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ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Carcinoma of the cervix is a major public health problem throughout the world. Cervical cancer is a preventable non-communicable disease that is caused by a sexually transmitted virus called Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Globally, there are approximately 528,000 new cases diagnosed every year and an estimated 270,000 deaths. The incident rate of cervical cancer in Nigeria is approximately 29.0%. Prevalence rates for HPV infection in the general population and HPV in women with cervical cancer have been reported as 26.3% and 24.8% respectively. There is reliable evidence that certain interventions can reduce the risk of exposure to HPV infection and cervical cancer. Objectives: To access the knowledge of cervical cancer, perception towards HPV vaccination and attitude towards cervical cancer screening among female senior secondary school students in Abuja metropolitan area council. Methodology: The study was carried amongst 636 respondents, who were selected using multistage sampling technique for selection with completion rate of 88.68% (564). Pre-tested selfadministered questionnaires were used for data collection. Data was collected, assessed for completeness and analyzed with IBM SPSS version 22.0 software. Knowledge was scored in percentages and graded as good and poor. The association between socio-demographic variables and knowledge of cervical cancer, attitude, perception and uptake of HPV vaccine amongst respondents was analyzed using chi squared test and fisher’s exact test where applicable. The level of significant was set at p < 0.05. Results: Mean age of the respondents was 15.38±2.49 years, and a large proportion of them are in SS1 (57.4%) and Christian (66.5%) among the respondents who were aware of cervical 12 cancer, 36.3% have good knowledge of cervical cancer while 55.6% have a positive attitude to cervical cancer screening. The source of information about cervical cancer came from the parents, television, and hospital, amongst others. Overall, there is a good perception (84.9%) of cervical cancer among the respondents while the uptake of HPV vaccine was very low (5.6%). This low uptake was attributed to the low level of knowledge of the vaccine among this age group. Good knowledge of cervical cancer was significantly associated with the age group of respondents (p = 0.037) while having a positive attitude to cervical cancer screening was significantly associated with good knowledge of cervical cancer (). The perception to cervical cancer screening was significantly associated with the mothers’ level of education and the fathers’ level of education (p = 0.005 and 0.001 respectively). The uptake of HPV vaccine was significantly associated with the knowledge of cervical cancer (p = 0.047) and the attitude to cervical cancer screening (p = 0.015) Conclusion: This study identified that about two-fifth of the respondents had a good knowledge of cervical cancer. A little above half of the respondents had a positive attitude towards cervical cancer screening. Majority of respondents had a good perception of cervical cancer and its screening. Uptake of HPV vaccine was very low among respondents although a majority of them signified the willingness to receive the vaccine. Keywords: Cervical cancer, secondary school, Human papilloma virus
