Knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among market women in Zaria, Nigeria
Ahmed, S.A.; Sabitu, K.; Idris, S.H.; Ahmed, R.
Nigerian Medical Journal Journal of the Nigeria Medical Association 54(5): 316-319
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 0300-1652 PMID: 24403709 DOI: 10.4103/0300-1652.122337Document Number: 201820
Cervical cancer is the most common genital cancer and one of the leading causes of death among female population. Fortunately, this cancer is preventable by screening for premalignant lesions but this is rarely provided and hardly utilised. We assessed the knowledge, attitude and utilisation of cervical cancer screening among market women in Sabon Gari, Zaria. This was a cross-sectional study to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among market women. A total of 260 women were administered with questionnaires which were both self and interviewer administered. These were analysed using SPSS version 11. Respondents exhibited a fair knowledge of cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening (43.5%); however, their knowledge of risk factors was poor. There was generally good attitude to cervical cancer screening (80.4%), but their level of practice was low (15.4%). There was a fair knowledge of cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening among Nigerian market women in this study, their practice of cervical cancer screening was poor.