Comprehensive knowledge and uptake of cervical cancer screening is low among women living with HIV/AIDS in Northwest Ethiopia

Background: In Ethiopia, cervical cancer is ranked as the second most common type of cancer in women and it is about 8 times more common in HIV infected women. However, data on knowledge of HIV infected women regarding cervical cancer and acceptability of screening is scarce in Ethiopia. Hence, the present study was aimed at assessing the level of knowledge of about cervical cancer and uptake of screening among HIV infected women in Gondar, northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross sectional, questionnaire based survey was conducted on 302 HIV infected women attending the outpatient clinic of University of Gondar referral and teaching hospital from March 1 to 30, 2017. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were also performed to examine factors associated with uptake of cervical cancer screening service.

Results: Overall, only 64 (21.2%) of respondent were knowledgeable about cervical cancer and screening and only 71 (23.5%) of respondents were ever screened in their life time. Age between 21 and 29 years old (AOR = 2.78, 95% CI = 1.71-7.29), perceived susceptibility to develop cervical cancer (AOR =2.85, 95% CI = 1.89-6.16) and comprehensive knowledge of cervical cancer (AOR = 3.02, 95% CI = 2.31-7.15) were found to be strong predictors of cervical cancer screening service uptake.

Conclusion: The knowledge and uptake of cervical cancer screening among HIV infected women was found to be very poor. Taking into consideration the heightened importance of comprehensive knowledge in boosting up the number of participants towards cervical cancer screening services, different stakeholders working on cancer and HIV/AIDS should provide a customized health promotion intervention and awareness creation to HIV-infected women, along with improving accessibility of cervical cancer screening services in rural areas.