Knowledge and Attitude towards Cervical Cancer Screening among Females Attending out Patient Department in Health Centre IIIs in Oyam District

Cervical cancer is a serious health concern in Uganda. Early screening and detection certainly improves chances of survival and treatment outcome. Sound knowledge and positive attitudes highly influence acceptability and uptake of screening methods. This descriptive cross-sectional study determines knowledge and attitudes towards Cervical Cancer screening amongst female out-patients aged 15 - 49 years, attending Health Centre IIIs in Oyam District, Northern Uganda. A systematically obtained sample of 445 respondents was interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires and focused group discussions. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Directed content analysis of themes of transcribed qualitative data was conducted manually. Of the 445 respondents, only 62.7% (n = 279) had heard of cervical cancer amongst which only 35.1% (n = 85) had been screened; 13.7% (n = 34) did not know what screening was; 3.7% (n = 9) were not sure and 5.8% (n = 14) knew it as removal of the cervix. Only 39.1% (n = 174) believed that cervical cancer can be prevented. There is still limited knowledge and lots of misconceptions about cervical cancer screening in the communities, which requires massive sensitization of the population at risk to change negative attitudes and maximize acceptability to screening methods.