Awareness and knowledge on breast cancer screening among reproductive aged women in some parts of Ghana

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. However, information about breast cancer is still limited in most parts of the developing world among reproductive-aged women, i.e. aged between 18 and 60 years. This has consequences for timely diagnosis and intervention, resulting in high mortalities in most cases. Effective breast screening practices such as; screening by trained healthcare professionals, mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging play a vital role in early detection and treatment of breast cancers. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and practice of breast cancer screening examination among reproductive aged women in Ghana. A cross-sectional descriptive survey of 1672 reproductive-aged women (between 18–60 years) was conducted in the northern (Tamale) and southern (Accra) sectors of the country. According to the population and housing census 2020, women are 16.5 million (50.1%) of which approximately 10.5 million (63.6%) are in the aged bracket of 18 to 60 years. All participants consented, were sampled randomly from communities in Tamale and Accra, and never reported to any health facility for any breast-related complications. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain responses about; awareness of breast screening programmes, knowledge of breast screening methods, knowledge of self-breast examination, willingness to undergo clinical-breast examination, and practice of self-breast examination.

Responses were presented as frequency tabulations, while associations between the responses and age, education, marital status, employment status and religion were assessed by Chi-squared analysis, significant at p < 0.05. The results showed that awareness and practice of breast cancer screening methods were higher among the younger women (aged 18–30 years), with tertiary level education, married, employed and were predominantly Christians. Significant associations were found between knowledge, practice and all the factors except religion. Finally, even though 84% ot the participants were aware of breast cancer and mammography as the commonest and most effective and appropriate examination method, practice of breast cancer screening examination among the women were less than 10%.

In conclusion, despite the high awareness level of breast cancer screening examination of approximately 84%, practice of any of the known screening methods were just about 10%. We therefore recommend educational and health policies targeted at behavioral change that will stimulate a positive attitude to breast cancer screening practices. Additionally, efforts should be made by government and other stakeholders in healthcare to design targeted policies and improve public education techniques to promote the practice of breast cancer screening among women in Ghana.