Abstract
BackgroundCervical cancer is the commonest cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women in Gabon. The age-standardized incidence of cervical cancer is 19.9 per 100 000 women and the mortality rate is 8.4 per 100 000. Various international studies have identified the lack of awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer as barriers to use preventive methods. This article assesses the awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer, Pap smear testing and its use and HPV among women living in Libreville, Gabon.MethodsThis study was conducted in October 2014 in Libreville. A total of 452 women aged 16 years and above were recruited from different town locations. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the effect of demographic characteristics on the level of knowledge about cervical cancer, Pap smear testing and HPV. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were used to identify the strength of association. Associations were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.ResultsOf all the women interviewed, 91.6% (414/452) had heard about cervical cancer and only 27.9% (126/452) had heard of Pap smear test. Of these 126 women, only 65.1% (82/126) had done cervical cancer screening and 68.3% (56/82) on the suggestion of a doctor. The most common reason for not undergoing Pap smear testing was neglect (50%, 22/44) followed by lack of financial resources (13.6%, 6/44), fear of discovering a serious disease (13.6%, 6/44) and deeming it unimportant (13.6%, 6/44). Only 8% (40/452) of the participants had heard about HPV and their knowledge of HPV was fair. There is a very poor level of knowledge about cervical cancer among Gabonese women.ConclusionThis study demonstrates a very low level of knowledge about cervical cancer, Pap smear testing and HPV in a sample of Gabonese women. There is a critical need for Gabonese women to be informed about cervical cancer and the Pap smear test to improve the use of this preventive method. The implication of health staff and Gabonese media should be included as a centerpiece in the effort to inform the population in order to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Gabon and save women lives.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is the commonest cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women in Gabon
This study aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer, Pap smear testing and Human papillomavirus (HPV) in Gabonese women and reveal which sources of information are commonly used in their health education
The items on the questionnaire were divided into four sections: (i) demographic characteristics of the participants, and awareness, knowledge, and information sources of (ii) cervical cancer, (iii) Pap smear testing and (iv) HPV
Summary
Cervical cancer is the commonest cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women in Gabon. This article assesses the awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer, Pap smear testing and its use and HPV among women living in Libreville, Gabon. Cervical cancer is one of the few preventable human cancers, its prevention is based on the early diagnosis of precancerous lesions whose treatment generally makes the development of cancer almost impossible [3]. In developing countries, cervical cancer remains the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among. The incidence and mortality of this cancer have decreased significantly because of the efforts made to detect precancerous lesions early [5,6]
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