Authors T Toru Wolaita Sodo University B Zeleke Wolkite University T Tegegn Wolaita Sodo Christian General Hospital T Birlew Debre Markos University Keywords: cervical cancer, women, screening, utilisation, Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), especially HPV-16 and HPV-18. It is a health crisis impacting women and their families across the world – especially in low-resource settings. Despit acknowledging the importance of cervical cancer screening for early prevention, there is limited information available to the people of Wolaita Zone, Sodo Town, about utilising the cervical cancer screening service. This study aimed to assess cervical cancer screening utilisation and its associated factors among women aged 30 years and above in Wolaita Zone, Sodo Town, southern Ethiopia, during 2020.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 574 women aged 30 years and older from 1 May 2020 to 30 June 2020. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data entry was done using EpiData (version 3.1) and exported to IBM SPSS Statistics (version 23) for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to identify variables that have a significant association with cervical cancer screening utilisation.

Results: The overall proportion of cervical cancer screening utilisation among participants was 15.2% with a 95% CI of 13.9–16.7) This finding also revealed that a higher educational level (AOR = 3.74, 95% CI 1.39–10.07), a better average monthly income (AOR = 4.54, 95% CI 1.86–11.07), a history of STD in a participant’s lifetime (AOR = 2.85, 95% CI 1.22–6.66), family history of cervical cancer (AOR = 4.37, 95% CI 1.75–10.92), having good knowledge about cervical cancer screening (AOR = 2.53, 95% CI 1.42–4.50) and having a favourable attitude towards  cervical cancer screening (AOR = 2.50, 95% CI 1.34–4.66) were aspects significantly associated with cervical cancer screening utilisation.

Conclusion: This study showed that the level of cervical cancer screening utilisation was low. There is thus a need for stakeholders to create awareness about cervical cancer screening utilisation at the community level, particularly for women 30 years and older.

Author Biographies T Toru, Wolaita Sodo University

Department of Nursing, Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia

B Zeleke, Wolkite University

Department of Nursing, Wolkite University, Ethiopia

T Tegegn, Wolaita Sodo Christian General Hospital

Obstetrics and Gynaecology Ward, Wolaita Sodo Christian General Hospital, Ethiopia

T Birlew, Debre Markos University

Department of Public Health, Debre Markos University, Ethiopia

Issue Section

Original Research

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