TITLE:
Assessment of the knowledge, attitude and practice of rural women of northeast Nigeria on risk factors associated with cancer of the Cervix
AUTHORS:
Babatunji A. Omotara, Shuaibu J. Yahya, Mary O. Amodu, John S. Bimba
KEYWORDS:
Risk Factors; Cervical Cancer; Rural Women; North-Eastern Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.9,
August
28,
2013
ABSTRACT: Cervical cancer is the leading cancer-related cause of death among women
in Nigeria. An estimated 70,700 new cases occur each year, representing one
quarter of all female cancers in sub Saharan Africa. The magnitude of the problem has been under recognised and under prioritised compared with the
competing health priorities of infectious diseases such as HIV/ AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. Studies in the United States and Nigeria have
indicated that the disease has the highest incidence among the lowest
socio-economic groups especially residing in rural areas. The peak age for the
disease has been shown to be within 35-45 years age group. Knowledge of the
risk factors of the disease is deemed important in its early detection and prevention. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude
and practice of rural women with cancer of
the cervix. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among
1600 rural women aged 15-55 years (randomly selected from 28 villages) who
were interviewed using a structured questionnaire between April and June, 2010.
The majority (82.2%) were married before the age of 20 years and 19.3% before
15 years, 40% in polygamous union, 22.6% have had 2 or more sexual partners, 71.3%
were primi and grand multiparous, 7.5% have had previous treatment for STIs and
10.1% were on various types of contraceptive. 454 (28.4%) have heard of Ca
cervix, 358 (22.4%) knew the location of the cervix. 2.3% had Pap smear test of
which 72.6% were within 2 years. The majority (89.9%) will avail themselves for
screening.