Factors Associated With Cervical Cancer Awareness, Screening Knowledge, and Preventive Practices among Reproductive-Age Women in Bangladesh: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the biggest ones in Bangladesh status of the second most common cancer among the women. It is an avoidable disease but many of them are coming in late stage in tertiary health institution e.g. Ahsania Mission Cancer & General Hospital (AMCGH) thus resulting high death rate. Several critical knowledge gaps exist that complicate perceptions about this issue: about three fourths of women of reproductive age are aware of HPV and basic knowledge about the disease, the association between HPV and cervical cancer and the need for the timely screening for women. Furthermore, there is a low uptake of screening and in many cohorts it is not much more than 10%. The objective of this study is to determine the socio-demographic factors, knowledge about the problem and sociological barriers and finally to highlight the importance of institutional and opportunistic screening model for better cancer early detection of the growing cervical cancer burden in this country. It will be an exploratory study of reproductive age women in Bangladesh including patients and attendants of Ahsania Mission Cancer & General Hospital (AMCGH) to find out the factors of readiness to screening for cervical cancer and awareness of preventative measures. Although, the most prevalent type of cancer-related death for women is cervical cancer, it appears that the majority of women are unaware of the majority of the primary risk factors, such as HPV, and screening rates are not high, so screening is needed. This study was based on an assessment of socioeconomic factors (education, income and age) associated with health-seeking behaviors from a hospital based registry. Results will demonstrate the importance of introducing opportunistic screening programmes at various clinical service points to decrease multiple barriers to participation in screening and the need for integrated approaches to prevention based on evidence to better align clinical burden with effective interventions in the Bangladeshi health system more upstream.