Résumé :
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[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST 6UNR0xlW. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. Background. A large proportion of women in most developing countries, particularly in rural areas, have never had cervical cancer screening. This paper reports the effect of a cervical cancer screening programme using a mobile unit on changes in knowledge and use of Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening among rural Thai women. Methods. Health education and collection of Pap smears were carried out by the mobile unit throughout the 54 rural villages in Mae Sot District, Tak Province, between January and February 1993. To determine the extent of changes, we compared the results of two interview surveys of women 18-65 years old in the villages selected by systematic sampling for each survey, first in January 1991 and then in January 1994. Results. A total of 1603 and 1369 women participated in each survey respectively. The proportion of women who knew of the Pap smear test increased from 20.8% in the first survey sample to 57.3% in the second survey sample. Conclusions. Greater efforts should be made to encourage the use of screening among the older women. The use of mobile units may be helpful for rapid achievement of higher screening coverage in rural areas, where existing screening services cannot effectively cover the female population at risk.
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