The Willingness of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Women to Cervical Cancer Screening in Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of women’s death worldwide. Screening and early treatment of precancerous cervical lesion is essential to reduce morbidity and mortality of HIV-positive women. However, significant numbers of HIV-positive women remained unscreened. In this study, we aimed to determine the willingness of HIV-infected women to cervical cancer screening in northwest Ethiopia.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at ART clinics of Gondar University Referral Hospital from April to May 2016 involving 460 HIV-positive women. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed.

Results: The mean age of participants (± SD) was 35.5 ± 8.4 years; and 88.9% were on combined ART. Overall, 28.7% of participants had willingness to be screened. In multivariate analysis, nulliparous (AOR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.03-2.93), attainment of college education (AOR=3.94, 95% CI: 1.29-12.0), screened previously (AOR=2.50, 95% CI: 1.09-5.73) and who had awareness about the disease (AOR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.03-2.93) were independently associated with willingness of cervical cancer screening.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the willingness of HIVinfected women towards cervical cancer screening was very low in northwest Ethiopia. This finding highlights the need of creating awareness about screening and health information dissemination for HIV-infected women to prevent the occurrence of cervical cancer.