Abstract

Background. Cervical cancer (cc) is the fourth most common cancers affecting women. Worldwide and is second most common in India. It being preventable, a robust and effective national education cum screening program is the key to curb its increasing incidence. Cervical cancer is a major cause of cancer mortality in women and more than a quarter of its global burden is contributed by developing countries. In India, in spite of alarmingly high figure, there is no nationwide screening program. Objectives. This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the knowledge, awareness, and perception (KAP) towards CC aetiology, its signs and symptoms and risk factors among general public. Methods. Data was collected using predesigned and validated study questionnaire. The respondents’ KAP were compared. A total of 1160 people responded to the survey, (22.1 %) were males, while (77.9%) were females with the mean age 30.36 (SD=1.74) years. Although 70% of the respondents had heard about CC, but only 27.9% and 18.6% knew that CC is common among women and it is transmissible, Additionally, the knowledge of relationship between viral infection and vaccination was also (34.1%) and only 18.6% of the people has knowledge that CC was a transmissible disease.

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