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Background: Over recent years, cervical cancer incidence and related mortality have steadily increased in Eswatini. Low cervical cancer screening uptake partly explains the situation. Cervical cancer screening-related knowledge is positively associated with screening uptake. Little is known about women's cervical cancer screening-related knowledge in Eswatini. Objective: This study aimed to assess cervical cancer screening knowledge and associated factors among Eswatini women eligible for screening. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving three hundred and seventy-seven women aged 25 to 59 selected from four primary healthcare clinics in Eswatini was conducted. A paper and pen survey assessed knowledge about cervical cancer risk factors, benefits of screening, the meaning of screening results, recommended screening intervals, and socio-demographics. Descriptive analyses were performed to assess participants' sociodemographic characteristics. Linear regression was applied to examine associations between cervical cancer screening-related knowledge and participants' sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Two hundred and twenty-nine (61%) participants answered 80% or more knowledge questions correctly. Compared to HIV-positive participants, HIV-negative participants had 0.61 times lower cervical cancer screening knowledge scores (β = -0.39, 95% CI: -0.56, -0.19, p = 0.03). Participants who travelled more than 30 minutes to the clinic had 0.3 times lower cervical cancer screening knowledge scores (β = -0.70, 95% CI: -1.15, -0.25, p < 0.01) compared to participants who travelled less than 30 minutes to the clinic. Conclusions: Relatively high overall cervical cancer screening knowledge levels were observed among the study participants. Findings from the current study may inform future educational programs to create and sustain an accurate understanding of cervical cancer screening in Eswatini communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined community health workers' perceived barriers to discussing cervical cancer screening with women eligible for screening and explored factors associated with endorsing a greater number of barriers. Additional exploratory analyses assessed factors associated with endorsing a specific barrier., Methods: A telephone survey of 172 community health workers was conducted between July and August 2021. Descriptive analyses were performed to assess participants' socio-demographic and service-related characteristics. Regression analyses were used to assess: the association between socio-demographic characteristics and 1) endorsing a greater number of barriers and 2) endorsing a specific barrier or combination of barriers., Results: Commonly endorsed barriers included: perceived inability to convince women to undertake screening, inadequate time to discuss screening, lack of confidence to talk to older women about screening, and women's lack of interest in screening advice. Community health workers with at least some secondary school level education endorsed 40% more barriers than those without secondary school level education. Community health workers in Lubombo and Shiselweni endorsed 47% and 35% fewer barriers than community health workers in Hhohho. Community health workers in Lubombo were less likely to endorse:  1) barrier combination consisting of 'inability to talk to women in a way that will convince them to undertake cervical cancer screening' and 'lack of confidence to talk to older women about screening', and 2) barrier combination consisting of 'thinking that cervical cancer screening is not important' and 'thinking that health education is not effective in promoting cervical cancer screening'., Conclusion: Improvements to the training of community health workers with respect to screening-related health promotion may be useful in addressing most of the identified barriers.