Knowledge, Attitude and Breast Cancer Screening Practices in Ghana

Ghanaian women, like many other women from the developing countries, have a low participation rate in breast cancer screening services. As a result, the disease is commonly diagnosed at late stages leading to a poor outcome with high mortality rates. The study showed a high level of knowledge deficit about the disease, which was evident from the poor appreciation of the risk factors and signs of the disease and high level of misconceptions and misinformation. Attitudes towards the disease were those of fear, superstitions, fatalism and stigma, which impact negatively on the outcome of the disease in Ghana. To improve breast cancer care in Ghana, the study makes two broad recommendations which include vigorous breast awareness and educational programmes, to teach and encourage Ghanaian women to adopt breast self-examination practices and to encourage health professionals to use every opportunity to examine their female patients as part of the overall clinical assessments. The second recommendation is the provision adequate facilities for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer to patients at an affordable cost.