Awareness of cervical cancer prevention among rural dwellers in Enugu State, Nigeria: findings from Ituku outreach

Early Abstract:

Background: As the World Health Organization (WHO)’s global target of eliminating cervical cancer is just 5 years away, it is being speculated that women living in low-resource settings like Nigeria may be left behind, as significant proportion may not be aware of cervical cancer and its preventive measures. To forestall this, there is urgent need to review and possibly scale up awareness level about cervical cancer prevention among women residing in rural communities in Nigeria via Free Medical Outreach programs.
Aim: To assess the level of awareness and perceptions of cervical cancer prevention among participants of a community health outreach program in Ituku Town, Enugu State, Nigeria
Materials and method: Mixed-method study comprising quantitative survey of 352 participants and qualitative interviews of 10 purposively selected women attendees at the 2024 Free Medical Outreach at Ituku town, Awgu local government area, Enugu state. A pretested and validated questionnaire was used for collecting data from participants Quantitative data analysis was done using IBM SPSS for windows, version 20.0 while thematic analysis was done for qualitative components.
Results: Out of 525 eligible women who attended the health outreach, 352 (67.0%) were recruited into the study. Awareness of cervical cancer was reported by 27.8% (n = 98) of respondents, while 27.3% (n = 96) were aware of cervical cancer screening methods. Only 9.1% (n = 32) had heard of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination as a preventive measure, and 4.5% (n = 16) were aware that HPV infection is a causative factor for cervical cancer. Furthermore, just 4.5% (n = 16) of the respondents had ever undergone cervical cancer screening. Awareness of screening methods was associated with age ≤40years while willingness to vaccinate children was associated with having formal education.
Conclusion: In a rural community in Enugu state, Nigeria, only 3 out of every 10 women were aware of cervical cancer and its preventive measures. Although 1 in every 10 knew that HPV vaccination prevents against cervical cancer, over 9 of 10 of them were willing to vaccinate their children. 
Recommendation: To join the global community in eliminating cervical cancer by 2030, there is an urgent need to intensify awareness campaign via outreach programs, targeting rural dwellers in Low-and-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) about cervical cancer, its aetiology and prevention, possibly through targeted outreach programs.
Keywords: cancer aetiology, cancer awareness, cervical cancer, HPV-vaccine, vaccination willingness.