Free cervical cancer screening services are provided in Malawi’s public healthcare institutionssince 1999. Few women aged 42 and older, utilise these services. Cervical cancer continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality among this group of women. Structured interviews were conducted with 381 women who attended three healthcare centers in Blantyre and semi-structured interviews with 14 nurse/midwives working at the same centers. The results for both phases arepresented within the Health Belief Model’s constructs. Phase 1 revealed that women had low levels of perceived susceptibility to cervical cancer. Although the interviewed women perceived cervical cancer to be a serious condition, they did not regard themselves to be at risk of suffering from cervical cancer. Knowledge that cervical cancer screening could detect this cancer at an early stage, embarrassment, stigma, social support, financial costs, traditional practices and available sources of information, influenced women’s intentions to be screened for cervical cancer. In phase 2, the nurse/midwives indicated that Malawian women lacked information about cervical cancer, available screening tests and the purpose of such screening.These women perceived cervical canceras being incurable and linked to witchcraft. Women’s utilisation of cervical screening services was hampered by barriers relating to healthcare institutions, women themselves and nurse/midwives. Local radio and television broadcasts, friends and nurse/midwives motivated individual women to use these screening services.Women preferred receiving information about cervical cancer screening during community activities. Health education should be intensified, nurse/midwives should be more empathetic, clinic days and hours should be extended. Misconceptions should be addressed and more service providers should be trained. This would enable more Malawian women to use cervical screening services, enhancing early detection and treatment of cervical cancer and reducing the morbidity and mortality statistics related to this condition in Malawi. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer among women in Kenya. Various international studies indicate that the knowledge level of cervical cancer and its predisposing and preventive measures is low among the nurses as well as general population. This study aimed to assess knowledge, practices and attitudes of nurses with regards to cervical cancer screening and preventive measures at two Nairobi hospitals in Kenya. Across-sectional quantitative descriptive study design was used. Convenience sampling method was applied and data were collected from respondents using self-administered questionnaire. About 114 nurses aged 18 years and above participated in the study. The study revealed that nurses have the information about cervical cancer, available screening tests and the purpose of screening. Nurses have the knowledge that cancer screening could detect this cancer at an early stage; however, uptake is low. Cervical screening services were hampered by barriers relating to health care institutions, nurses perception and fear of screening technique, embarrassment, stigma, social influence, financial costs and available sources of information / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

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