Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Cervical Cancer Screening, Prevention, and Control among Undergraduate Female Students in Northwest, Ethiopia: A Descriptive Cross Sectional Study

Abstract Background In the world, cervical cancer is an easily preventable disease and it is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in females. It is the second most common women cancer in Ethiopia. The aim of the present study was to assess the KAP of undergraduate female students towards cervical cancer screening, prevention, and control. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2018 at the University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences undergraduate female students. Pretested, self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Four hundred and three female students were recruited by a stratified random sampling method and the data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 statistical packages. Descriptive data analysis was used to report the results. Results Most of the respondents (59.3.3%) had good knowledge, whereas nearly 67.7% of the respondents had a positive attitude towards cervical cancer. However, less than 1% of the respondents had been screened for cervical cancer. Conclusion Although female students had a high proportion of good knowledge and a positive attitude, their practices on cervical cancer were quite low. Therefore the university should create awareness on cervical cancer screening, prevention, and control by incorporating in the curriculum.