Awareness on Cervical Cancer, Its Screening and HPV Vaccination Among Women of Reproductive Age Group (15-49 Years) in Manipur

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer among females in India. Proper knowledge, regular screening and timely vaccination can prevent occurrence of cervical cancer. Aims/Objectives: To assess awareness of cervical cancer and its screening and vaccination among women of reproductive age group in Manipur.Also to determine the association between awareness of cervical cancer and some socio-demographic variables. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) residing in Manipur. Two urban and two rural areas were selected using purposive sampling. Face to face interview method was done using pretested, validated, semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to test for association taking all variables with p <0.1 for model building of the adjusted analysis. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Total number of respondents were 409. More than half (57%) were aware about cervical cancer. None of the respondents got HPV vaccination. Seven respondents had a history of cervical cancer in the family. Majority of them did not know any risk factors (33%) or signs and symptoms (38%) of cervical cancer. Maximum of them (94%) had not undergone screening test. Increasing age of the respondents (AOR: 0.932, 95% C.I. 0.902-0.964) shows a lesser awareness of cervical cancer but being a Christian was found to have increased awareness of cervical cancer (AOR: 4.639, 95%C.I. 2.001-10.753). Conclusions: Awareness of cervical cancer was found to be poor. Intensified health education and health promotion strategies at the community level about prevention and control of cervical cancer is the need of the hour.