Predictors of Cancer Screening among Urban Poor Women in Ghana

Patrick Asuming, University of Ghana
Philip B. Adongo, Navrongo Health Research Centre
Ayaga Bawah, Regional Institute for Population Studies

Early diagnosis of cancer is crucial for treatment and management. However, in spite of numerous programs to encourage cancer screening, this is little evidence of the determinants of cancer screen from developing countries. This paper analyses the determinants of cancer screening among poor urban women of reproductive (15-49) age in Ghana. We consider both breast and cervical cancer screening as outcomes. Our analysis shows that cancer screening is very low in our sample with 10.45% and 3.81% of reporting that they have ever been screened for breast and cervical respectively. Our analysis shows that previous history with breast cancer is the most significant predictor of cancer screening among women in our sample. Other significant predictors are age and socioeconomic status (education, occupation and wealth status).