A survey of awareness of Pap smear and cervical cancer vaccine among women at tertiary care centre in Eastern Uttar Pradesh India

Authors

  • Anjali Rani Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, IMS BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Kalpana Singh Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, IMS BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Shreya Thapa Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, IMS BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Keywords:

Pap smear, Vaccine, Awareness

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is very common in developing countries. In Uttar Pradesh the literacy rate of women is low as compared to other states of India. Poverty is very high. Most women report with advance stage of cervical cancer. It can be prevented by early screening with Pap smear. Aim of our study is to know about the awareness of Pap smear and cervical cancer vaccine among women attending a tertiary hospital in Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh India.

Methods: A questionnaire based study is done on 1500 patients attending the OPD and admitted in ward over a period of one year.

Results: To our surprise only 12.06% women were aware of Pap screening test. Only 6.13% women were aware of cervical cancer vaccine. The awareness about both Pap test and cervical cancer vaccine was present in only 5.2% only. The education of the women and socioeconomic status also play an important role. The awareness among rural women was significantly less as compared to urban women.

Conclusions: The awareness about Pap test and cervical cancer vaccine was very low specially in women staying in rural area. So if we really wanted to reduce cervical cancer then we have to increase the awareness among women by media, camps etc.

References

Desai M. An assessment of community based cancer screening program among Indian women using the Anganwadi workers. J Obstet Gynecol India. 2004;54:483-7.

WHO. Cervical screening in developing countries. In: WHO, eds. Report of a WHO Consultation. Geneva: WHO; 2002.

Sankaranaryanan R, Budukh AM, Rajkumar R. Effective screening programmes for cervical cancer in low-and-middle-income developing countries. Bull World Health Organ. 2001;79:954-62.

Singh E, Seth S, Rani V, Srivastava DK. Awareness of cervical cancer screening among nursing staff in a tertiary institution of rural India. J Gynecol Oncol. 2012 Jul;23(3):141-6.

Ertem G. Awareness of cervical cancer risk factors and screening behavior among nurses in a rural region of Turkey. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2009;10:735-8.

Montgomery MP, Dune T, Shetty PK, Shetty AK. Knowledge and acceptance of human papilloma virus vaccination and cervical cancer screening among women in Karnataka, India. J Cancer Educ. 2015 Mar;30(1):130-7.

Downloads

Published

2017-02-06

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles