Pap smear screening is proven to be an effective tool for the early detection of cervical cancer. Public Health Laboratory of the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) reported that Pontian Health District achieved only 69.4% out of the 4,112 targeted Pap smear screening performed in 2014. Pontian District Health Office conducted a Quality Assurance (QA) project, aiming to increase the percentage of Pap smear screening uptake among women in Pontian district to 100%.
A cross-sectional study using questionnaires was conducted in January 2015 involving 256 women to measure their knowledge, attitude, and practice towards Pap smear screening. The results showed 93.8% of respondents have a good knowledge of Pap smear. However, only 72% agreed to do Pap smear screening while 28% refused to do the screening. The 72 women declined the Pap smear screening for various reasons, such as time constraint (27%) feeling shy (27%), perceived the procedure as painful (23%), afraid to know the result (19%) and perceived the screening as unimportant (4%). The results also revealed only 44% of the respondents received information about Pap smear screening from health staff.
Several strategies were identified to overcome the reasons; the expansion of Pap smear screening to the workplace and residences overcome time constraint issue, an innovative tool known as “Sisih Malu” to combat the shyness feeling of doing Pap smear screening, while “Celik Servik” demonstrates the procedure as simple and painless. Active promotion of Pap smear screening was also conducted by the clinics’ staff who emphasised on cervical cancer early detection, which is more treatable at an early stage. These improvement strategies were conducted from February until December 2015.
Post-intervention saw Pap smear screening in Pontian district increased to 4,936 (118.9%), exceeding the 4,152 target set for 2015 and increased 130.5% in 2016. Another survey among 99 women in January 2016 showed that a 100% willingness to undergo a Pap smear screening