The awareness of cervical cancer prevention strategies among resident doctors in Tertiary Centre in Benin City

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer is a disease of public health importance, being the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide and the most common cancer among women in developing countries. While developed countries practice a population-based cervical cancer screening program, developing countries like Nigeria practice an opportunistic screening mode. Therefore, health workers, including resident doctors, are expected to drive this model through opportunistic counselling and referral of their female patients and relatives.

This study was designed to assess the Awareness of resident doctors in UBTH regarding cervical cancer prevention strategies.

Materials and Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study from July 2022 to August 2023 among resident doctors involved in outpatient consultations at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

Results: Overall, the knowledge of cervical cancer prevention strategies was good, with 62.5% of respondents demonstrating good knowledge. The attitude of the respondents towards cervical cancer prevention strategies was even better, with 86.4% of the respondents demonstrating an excellent attitude to these strategies. However, the practice of cervical cancer prevention strategies was generally poor. Most of the respondents (64.1%) had never referred a female patient for cervical cancer screening. Only 37.2% of the female participants had done a pap smear before, and most (68.8%) had done it just once. Among the male respondents, 75% of their female spouses had never done a pap smear.

Conclusion: The excellent knowledge and attitude about cervical cancer prevention strategies among resident doctors who participated in this study did not reflect on their practice of preventive measures.