Tope Olubodun, Oluwatoyin O Ogundele, Zainab A Salisu, Yetunde O Odusolu, Ugonnaya U Caleb-Ugwuowo
{"title":"Cervical cancer awareness and risk factors among women residing in an urban slum in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria","authors":"Tope Olubodun, Oluwatoyin O Ogundele, Zainab A Salisu, Yetunde O Odusolu, Ugonnaya U Caleb-Ugwuowo","doi":"10.4314/ahs.v23i3.33","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background: Poor awareness of cervical cancer and high prevalence of its risk factors may be responsible for the large burdenof cervical cancer in low-income countries. This study assessed awareness of cervical cancer and prevalence of risk factorsamong women residing in a slum in Lagos, Nigeria.
 Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out amongst 305 women of reproductive age (15-49 years) inIdi-Araba, a slum in Urban Lagos. Data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaires. Analysis was done withSPSS 20 software.
 Results: Mean age of respondents was 33.5(9.0) years. Only 12.8% of the respondents had heard of cervical cancer. Ninety-fivepercent of respondents were sexually active and 56.2% had more than one lifetime sexual partner. Close to half (47.3%) ofrespondents had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 20. One in five (22.2%) had 5 or more children. Half of therespondents (54.8%) had had abnormal vaginal discharge.
 Conclusion: Awareness of cervical cancer among the women was poor and prevalence of risk factors of cervical cancer washigh. Campaigns aimed at increasing awareness of cervical cancer, and screening should be carried out by governmental andcharitable organizations for women residing in slums.
 Keywords: Cervical cancer; awareness; risk factors; slum; Nigeria.","PeriodicalId":7853,"journal":{"name":"African Health Sciences","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"African Health Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v23i3.33","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Poor awareness of cervical cancer and high prevalence of its risk factors may be responsible for the large burdenof cervical cancer in low-income countries. This study assessed awareness of cervical cancer and prevalence of risk factorsamong women residing in a slum in Lagos, Nigeria.
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out amongst 305 women of reproductive age (15-49 years) inIdi-Araba, a slum in Urban Lagos. Data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaires. Analysis was done withSPSS 20 software.
Results: Mean age of respondents was 33.5(9.0) years. Only 12.8% of the respondents had heard of cervical cancer. Ninety-fivepercent of respondents were sexually active and 56.2% had more than one lifetime sexual partner. Close to half (47.3%) ofrespondents had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 20. One in five (22.2%) had 5 or more children. Half of therespondents (54.8%) had had abnormal vaginal discharge.
Conclusion: Awareness of cervical cancer among the women was poor and prevalence of risk factors of cervical cancer washigh. Campaigns aimed at increasing awareness of cervical cancer, and screening should be carried out by governmental andcharitable organizations for women residing in slums.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; awareness; risk factors; slum; Nigeria.
期刊介绍:
The African Health Sciences is an internationally refereed journal publishing original articles on research, clinical practice, public health, policy, planning, implementation and evaluation, in the health and related sciences relevant to Africa and the tropics. Its objectives are to: Advocate for and promote the growth of reading culture in sub Saharan Africa; Provide a high quality journal in which health and policy and other researchers and practitioners in the region can and world wide, can publish their work; Promote relevant health system research and publication in the region including alternative means of health care financing, the burden of and solution of health problems in marginalized urban and rural communities amongst the displaced and others affected by conflict; Promote research and the systematic collection and collation and publication of data on diseases and conditions of equity and influence; Promote development of evidence-based policies and guidelines for clinical, public health and other practitioners. African Health Sciences acknowledges support provided by the African Health Journals Partnership Project that is funded by the US National Institutes of Health (through the National Library of Medicine and the Fogarty International Center) and facilitated by the Council of Science Editors.