A Statistical Approach towards Cervical Cancer Awareness among Women in Ghana

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the fourth-most common cancer in females worldwide, with a large number of mortality rate occurrence in under-developed and developing countries. However, this huge mortality rate can be curb through awareness about the deadly disease, its vaccination, and a positive attitude towards regular cervical cancer screening activities. Consequently, it will mitigate HPV infection, early detection and treatment of the condition at its pre- cancerous stage. Hence, this study presented an approach to assist in ascertain the level of knowledge about cervical cancer and attitude towards screening among women using female students of UDS tamale campus, Ghana as a case study. Data was obtained by using a stratified random sampling method to interview 304 female students by the use of a well-structured, pre- tested questionnaires. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21 and direct content analysis of themes were conducted manually on the data. The result shows that 40.1% had poor knowledge, 40.5% had fair knowledge and only 19.4% had good knowledge about cervical cancer. More so, 82.6% of the respondents were of the opinion that screening exercise and other preventive measures are of necessity even when there is no symptom of the disease. Findings shows that there exist a positive relationship between attitude and knowledge. The study also revealed that only 11.21% of the total population had undergone cervical screening exercise. Conclusively, the knowledge about cervical cancer is poor, attitude towards cervical cancer screening is good however, fewer numbers of the women had undergone screening. Therefore sensitization about cervical cancer screening among women is of paramount importance.