Jemal Abdu*,Molla Kahssay , Frewein Yilma , Etsay Woldu, Desalegn Mersesa
Background: Incidence from cervical cancer in Ethiopia is 26.4/100,000. This figure is probably lower than the actual number of new cases attributed to limited access to screening services. This study was aimed to assess cervical cancer screening practice and associated factors among Reproductive health Service Clients, in case of zone-1, Afar Region, Ethiopia. A facility based cross sectional study was implemented at four public health institutions in Zone-1, Afar Region, from March1-30, 2017. Simple random sampling technique was employed to get a total of 423 subjects. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression model was used to identify significant predictors of the outcome variable. Significance level was declared at P-value<0.05 with 95% confidence interval.
Results: Out of all the respondents, only 27(6.4%) had cervical cancer screening practice. Respondents at age range of 35-39 years were 12 times more likely to practice screening compared to respondents aged <20 years, [AOR = 12, 95%; CI (1.29, 17.45)]. Respondents with orthodox religion were 4.8 times more likely to practice cervical cancer screening compared to subjects with Muslim religion, [AOR = 4.73, 95%CI; (1.0, 22.3)]. Study subjects who had poor knowledge of cervical cancer were 98.5% less likely to had practice of cervical cancer screening compared to their counterparts, [AOR = 0.015, 95%; CI (0.003, 0.083)] and study subjects who had negative attitude towards cervical cancer screening were 87.5% less likely to had practice of cervical cancer screening comparing to their counterparts, [AOR = 0.125, 95%; CI (0.025, 0.634)]. Prevalence of cervical cancer screening practice is very low. Hence, awareness creation and health education about cervical cancer and screening should be given to women of reproductive age group.
