Awareness and knowledge level of cervical cancer among women of reproductive age in Bolgatanga municipality

Abstract

This study assessed the awareness and knowledge level of cervical cancer among reproductive women in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region of Ghana. A structured question-naires was used to gather data from one hundred and fifty (150) women. The participants were re-cruited using the convenient sampling method. Out of the total number of 150, 50% of the women were between 21 and 29 years old whiles 14% were aged 15-20 years. The findings suggest that 70.7% of the participants have ever heard of cervical cancer but when they were asked to mention the symptoms of cervical cancer most of these women said they did not know. Those who have heard about cervical cancer mentioned mass media as their source of information (36.7%) whiles 25.3% indicated health workers as their source of information. In conclusion the study revealed the lack of in depth knowledge on cervical cancer, the need for mass education on the disease and the establishment of cervical cancer control program, screening and treatment centers in order to curb misdiagnosis of the disease to reduce mortality associated with the disease.

Keywords: Tumour, behaviour, sexual age, Upper East, Ghana