Uptake of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women Aged 21-65 Years Seeking Health Services in Uasin-Gishu District Hospital

Abstract

Cervical cancer poses a great challenge in the world and especially in developing countries. Global cancer statistics ranked the disease seventh of all the cancers. It is the leading cause of death from cancer among women in the developing countries where 90% of the cases are reported. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, and if high uptake of screening is achieved, a great reduction in the incidence and the disease burden can be realized. The main objective of this study was to determine the uptake of cervical cancer screening among women of ages 21-65 years seeking health services in Uasin-Gishu district hospital. A quantitative and qualitative descriptive cross-sectional hospital based study was conducted on women aged 21-65 years seeking health services in Uasin-Gishu district Hospital. There was a very low uptake of cervical cancer screening at the facility. The respondents reported to have screened for cervical cancer were 8.8% and 91% not screened. There was an association between knowledge of cervical cancer symptoms and age [25-29 (p=0.03)] [30-34(p=0.001)], tertiary education (p=0.002) and marital status (p=0.04). There was an association between knowledge of risk factors and tertiary education (p=<0.001), salaried employment (p=0.03), and those respondents who had 1-4 children (p=0.01). There was an association between knowledge of prevention strategies of cervical cancer and secondary education (p=0.03), tertiary education (p=<0.001), and salaried employment (p=0.001).

Keywords: Uptake, cervical cancer, cervical cancer screening.