Knowledge of Cervical Cancer Prevention Among Women in Amazonian Peru

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Survey-based research was conducted in Yantalo, Peru, a rural Amazonian community, to assess the knowledge base among women surrounding cervical cancer, human papilloma virus (HPV), and preventative health practices as well as to gain a better understanding of barriers to accessing care. Methods: A total of 217 women were interviewed out of the 1612 female inhabitants of Yantalo utilizing a structured interview-style questionnaire with both closed and open-ended questions. Results: Our average respondent was 41.6 years old with the equivalent of some high school education. Approximately 75% of respondents reported that they had heard of HPV and/or cervical cancer, with 44.4% reporting they had received a test to check for cervical cancer within their lifetime. When given a 10-question knowledge assessment regarding safe sex practices and cervical cancer, women obtained an average score of 57.3%. When asked about receiving the HPV vaccine, 29% reported ''Yes'', 59.4% reported ''No'', and 11.6% reported ''I don't know.'' Although 62.6% of women indicated that they have ''easy access to cervical cancer screening,'' 37.4% of women reported experiencing at least one barrier to accessing care. The highest reported barriers include fear of the test causing them pain and/or lack of knowledge of the necessity cervical cancer testing. Cervical cancer rates in Peru are approximately three times that in developed countries. Conclusions: Gathering data surrounding knowledge and the barriers among the female population in rural communities is essential to developing targeted initiatives that address pertinent obstacles within these and other vulnerable communities.

Cervical cancer screening in Brazilian Amazon Indigenous women: Towards the intensification of public policies for prevention

“…Renna-Junior et al showed that indigenous women have two times more chance of being diagnosed in advanced stages when compared to the usual risk population [36]. Second, the evidence regarding screening coverage in indigenous women points to wide rate ranges [2,7,[37][38][39], indicating irregular screening and non-standardized actions. Another attractive argument is indigenous behavior.…”

“…Another attractive argument is indigenous behavior. Some authors point to sexual behavior in indigenous favoring cervical cancer risk factors [6,10,11,27,28,36,[39][40][41]. Indeed, there are anthropologic barriers that might hamper willingness to screen.…”