Awareness of Cervical Cancer and Attitude Toward Human Papillomavirus and Its Vaccine Among Ghanaians.

Emmanuel Kwateng Drokow,Clement Yaw Effah,Clement Agboyibor,Francis Foli,Evans Sasu,Qian Han,Gloria Selorm Akpabla,Liu Zi,Kai Sun

doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.01651

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. Ghana is a low-middle- income country with annual diagnosed cases of 3,151 and 2,119 deaths. The high prevalence rate of cervical cancer in Ghana is mainly due to ineffective preventive measures and insufficient knowledge about the disease. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the level of knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer and attitude toward human papillomavirus and its vaccine among Ghanaians.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional survey on the awareness of cervical cancer and attitude toward human papillomavirus and its vaccine was carried out from March 2019 to February 2020. SPSS v. 23.0 was used in the data analysis. The participants' demographic characteristics, knowledge of cervical carcinoma, human papillomavirus vaccine and HPV, and the likelihood to be vaccinated were represented as percentages and frequencies. The difference between males and females was assessed using the chi-square test. The logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship of possible related indicators with the willingness to receive the HPV vaccine. A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: A total of 1,376 participants were involved in the final analysis. Among the 1,376 participants involved in this survey, 1,240 participants (90.1%) representing 456 males (33.1%) and 784 females (57.0%) were aware of the terminology “cervical cancer” with a significant p = 0.001. When stratified by gender, women had significantly greater knowledge, compared to men in terms of “cervical cancer being common in middle age (35–50) females” (75.5 vs. 67.5%, respectively, p ≤ 0.001). When stratified by gender, women had significantly greater knowledge of human papillomavirus (54.5 vs. 43.6%, respectively, p < 0.001) and the human papillomavirus vaccine (39.3 vs. 33.1%, respectively, p = 0.019) compared to men.Conclusion: Majority of the respondents had poor knowledge regarding cervical cancer risk factors, symptoms, HPV, and its vaccine. Hence, this indicates a wakeup call for government to increase the awareness and knowledge level via the media and health professionals.

Highlights

Carcinoma of the cervix (CC) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer among women with an annual new registered case of 569,847 and 311,365 deaths worldwide [1, 2]
Human papillomaviruses (HPV) have been shown to be one of the most common pathogens transmitted through sexual contact in the cervix, and chronic infections of the cervix with highrisk human papillomavirus is required before cervical cancer can develop or occur [3]
The WHO guide on the control of cervical cancer stated that the success of cervical cancer prevention and control mainly depends on cervical carcinoma screening programs (CCSP) and human papillomavirus vaccinations [6]

Summary

Introduction

Carcinoma of the cervix (CC) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer among women with an annual new registered case of 569,847 and 311,365 deaths worldwide [1, 2]. The level of awareness and knowledge of cervical cancer etiology and HPV vaccination in women, to a great extent, influences their participation in screening and vaccination programs. Ghana is a low-middleincome country with annual diagnosed cases of 3,151 and 2,119 deaths, according to the 2018 ICO/IARC summary reports [9] These statistics, are prone to underestimate the actual nation’s disease burden, as there exist imparity in the event of cervical cancer screening for females with different geographical and demographical indicators across the nation [10]. White et al [20] reported that most women in Zambia discuss their screening decisions with their close relatives or people within their immediate social circle These pieces of evidence indicate that women who receive encouragement from their family, friends, or partners are more likely to participate in the screening program.

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