ABSTRACT
Cervical cancer remains the commonest genital tract cancer despite the availability of effective prevention services that makes it preventable. Primary prevention can be achieved by vaccinating adolescent girls and women against infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV) while secondarily Pap smear screening is the gold standard for early detection for prompt treatment of precancerous lesions. The objectives of this study was to determine the knowledge, practice and determinants of uptake of cervical cancer prevention services by the female health care workers in Abia state, Nigeria. A descriptive cross sectional survey design was adopted for this study. A sample size of 376 was used for the study. A semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire which sought information on socio-demographic characteristics, sexual and reproductive history, knowledge and perception of cervical cancer, uptake of prevention services and deterrents to service uptake was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 statistical software with level of statistical significance set at P < 0.05.Almost all 372(98.9%) of the respondents were aware of cervical cancer, 305(81.1%) aware of Pap smear and 240(64.6%) aware of HPV vaccine. The mean knowledge score was 66.8 � 11.9 while the mean perception score in this study was 76.0 � 14.6. Of the 376 study subjects, only 44(11.7%) had ever done the screening test and 17(7.3%) had daughters who had taken HPV. The factors associated with uptake of HPV vaccination were income, type of facility, professional cadre, History of STI and recommending HPV vaccine for others. The predictors of HPV vaccine uptake were Type of facility (P value <0.032; AOR 3.24; 95% CI: 1.11-9.51). Professional cadre (P value 0.035; AOR 5.60; 95% CI: 1.13-27.84) and Recommending HPV xv vaccination for others ((P value 0.007; AOR 4.44; 95% CI: 1.51-13.07).The factors associated with Pap smear uptake were marital status, type of facility, professional cadre and recommending Pap smear for others while the actual predictors of Pap smear uptake were: Type of facility (P value 0.044; OR 2.01; 95% CI: 1.02-3.97) and having recommended Pap smear for others (P value <0.001; AOR 4.88; 95% CI: 2.39-9.94). In conclusion, despite a fair level of knowledge of cervical cancer prevention services, the uptake of HPV vaccination and Pap smear was low. It is recommended that the female workers in the tertiary health facilities and female pharmacists should be utilized to increase awareness and recommend these prevention services to other women in the population to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.