Cervical cancer screening awareness and uptake among under-screened women in a rural Nigerian community

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is the most frequent female genital tract malignancy in Nigeria, with the majority of patients suffering from advanced stages of the disease. A low level of awareness and knowledge of cervical cancer and screening has been identified as one of the causes of cervical screening underutilization in Nigeria. This study aims to determine the level of cervical cancer screening awareness and uptake among rural Nigerian women.
Method: The study design was cross sectional, carried out among adult women in the Orhuwhorun community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 234 women from May to June 2021. Data were collected by semi-structured, interviewer- administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done with SPSS v. 25.0.
Result: Two hundred and thirty-four women of mean age 41.08 years (SD ± 8.45) were enrolled. The level of awareness of cervical cancer screening methods was 9.4% while screening uptake was only 4.3% among rural women in Orhuwhorun.
Conclusion: The awareness of cervical cancer screening methods and uptake was very low among rural women in Delta State. It is, therefore, imperative that cervical cancer awareness campaigns among this populace are increased and screening services be less expensive and accessible.