Yesterday I circulated a paper relevant to Q1 from Ethiopia.
Please may I ask for your help to identify papers from other countries, relevant to Q1?
For comparison, I found this interesting paper from India:
CITATION: Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and sociocultural factors influencing cervical cancer screening and vaccination among women in rural communities of Gujarat: A mixed-methods study
J Family Med Prim Care. 2024 Sep 11;13(9):3988–3994. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_505_24
ABSTRACT
Background: Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality among women in India. Screening can help in early detection and improve outcomes. However, uptake remains low, especially in rural areas. Understanding multidimensional factors influencing screening in local contexts is essential to promote equitable access. This study examined knowledge, attitudes, practices, and sociocultural factors associated with cervical cancer screening and vaccination in rural India.
Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted among 400 women aged 18–60 years in rural Maharashtra...
Results: Quantitative results showed poor knowledge (17% had good knowledge) and positive attitudes (64%) but low screening uptake (9%). Qualitative findings revealed limited awareness, stigma around gynecological exams, gender inequities, fear, fatalism, and low prioritization of self-care as screening barriers.
Conclusion: Multifaceted strategies addressing knowledge gaps, gender roles, stigma, and access are required to improve cervical cancer screening in marginalized rural communities. Mixed methods provide comprehensive evidence for designing context-specific interventions.
COMMENT (NPW): A weakness of the above paper is that we don't know what is menat by 'good knowledge'. The authors define this as scoring 60% on a knowledge test but we do not know the level of the questions asked.
It would be interesting to compare the perceptions of these women with those in the Ethiopia study. For example, there was a lack of awareness about the potential of screening to prevent disease in the Ethiopia study, but this was not identified as an issue in the India study.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org