Abstract
Background: Cancer of the cervix has persistently stood out as the second most common cancer
affecting women in recent times. Human Papilomavirus is the causative agent of this disease and
despite the introduction of HPV vaccine in 2006, death rates due to cervical cancer hit 342,000 in
2020 and the awareness on the existence of vaccine is significantly low.
Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards cervical cancer screening
amongst members of Catholic Women Organization Awka diocese, Anambra state.
Materials and Methods: A face to face interaction was held between participants and trained
interviewers. Data was collected using structured questionnaire from a sample of 334 women and
analyzed using descriptive statistics. A grading system of answered questions was developed to
categorize respondents into no knowledge (0); poor knowledge (1-5) and good knowledge (≥ 6
questions). Similarly, 0-3 positive response indicated unfavorable attitude while 4-8 positive
response indicated favorable attitude. Results were presented in simple frequency, percentages
and tables.
Results: Most respondents were married women (90.6%), within the age group of ≥50, they
consisted of non-health professionals (56.6%) and unemployed women (26.7%). The percentage
of women who have heard of cervical cancer was 85.1%, but 69.2% of the women were not aware
of HPV vaccine. Final analysis indicated that 52.4% of women had a good knowledge, 37.4% of
women had poor knowledge and 10.2% had no knowledge of cervical cancer screening. While
54.9% of women expressed favorable attitude and practice towards cervical cancer screening
43.3% were unfavorable.
Conclusion: Awareness of the disease is quite high however most women are uniformed on the
prevention and treatment of cervical cancer. Hence, more sensitization program should be done
to create awareness for HPV vaccine. Government hospitals and non-governmental bodies should
find alternative ways to make the screening and vaccine widely available at a cheaper cost.