Medpedia Podcast. Apps Newsletter Abo-Shop. Springer Medizin. Suche Suchbegriffe eingeben Suchen. BMC Public Health. Abstract Background Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality and a major public health problem. The growing number of breast cancer-related deaths has been largely attributed to a lack of awareness of the disease among women. Whilst there have been frequent campaigns promoting breast cancer awareness, evidence suggests that women still lack awareness.
Therefore, this study assessed the prevalence and factors associated with the awareness of breast cancer among women of reproductive age in Lesotho. Methods We used population-based cross-sectional data from the Lesotho Demographic and Health survey. A total of 6, women of reproductive age were included in the analysis. The outcome variable was awareness of breast cancer. Women who heard about breast cancer were considered to be aware of the disease.
Multilevel binary logistic regression models were fitted to determine the factors associated with breast cancer awareness among women. Results The level of awareness of breast cancer was Conclusion The level of awareness of breast cancer among women of reproductive age in Lesotho was extremely low. We recommend that policymakers, clinicians, and public health practitioners should consider the factors identified in this study when designing and developing intervention programs to improve the awareness of breast cancer among women in Lesotho.
Background Recent global cancer estimates indicate that breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer with high mortality rates. In , approximately 2. Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality in sub-Saharan Africa SSA and is, therefore, a major public health problem [ 1 ]. In SSA, about , women were diagnosed with breast cancer in [ 3 ]. The burden of breast cancer is envisaged to worsen in Africa in the absence of much-needed interventions [ 4 ] due to changes in fertility, lifestyle changes such as late marriage, and shorter periods of breastfeeding among others [ 4 ].
This has been attributed to late-stage diagnosis and limited access to comprehensive breast cancer treatment centers [ 5 , 8 ]. The increased late diagnosis of breast cancer has been largely attributed to the lack of awareness of the disease among the public [ 9 , 10 ]. Literature indicates that the awareness of breast cancer among women is low in many sub-Saharan African countries [ 15 , 16 ] raising many concerns.
