Table 1.

Survey questions, and absolute and relative (%) number of expected answers on knowledge

Questions	Expected answer	N (%) with score = 1
1. Which diseases of the female genital tract do you know?	Description of at least one of the following diseases: leucorrhoea, infections, cancer of the uterine cervix, ovarian cysts or tumours, uterine myomas or tumours, dysmenorrhea, galactorrhoea	503 (96.0) 1
2. Have you ever heard about cervical cancer?	Yes	429 (81.9)
3. How did you hear about it?	Oral communication, newspaper, television, radio, conference, medical doctor or at the hospital, at a church or a school, or through a non-governmental organisation	434 (82.8)
4. What are the causes of cervical cancer?	Many sexual partners, use of plants for intimate care, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection, papilloma virus, old age	101 (19.3)
5. In your close circle of acquaintances, do you know someone who has had cervical cancer?	Yes	79 (15.1)
6. How can cervical cancer be treated?	Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy	90 (17.2)
7. How can you prevent cervical cancer?	Avoid multiple sexual partners, avoid HIV infection, use condoms	92 (17.6)
8. Have you ever heard about cervical smears?	Yes	88 (16.8)
9. Do you know that suspect lesions can be detected early?	Yes	303 (57.8)

¹241 participants (46.0%) spontaneously mentioned three or more items from the list and got 3 points; 126 (24.0%) gave two items and got 2 points; and 136 (26.0%) gave one item and got one point. The remaining 21 women (4.0%) did not describe any of the listed diseases.