Level of cancer awareness among women of low socioeconomic status in Mumbai slums.

BACKGROUND

Cancer, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in India can be prevented by early detection through screening, for which, awareness is essential.

AIM

Determining cancer awareness among low socioeconomic women in Mumbai.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

Community based cancer screening study using a mobile van.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data of consenting participants, collected using structured questionnaire, was differentiated into good and poor level of awareness using point based grading procedure. results: Mean age of 182 participants, majority (90.5%) belonging to lower socioeconomic strata, was 43.0∓8.8 years. Knowledge about cancer (84.6%) was good compared to knowledge of cancer screening (35.1%), awareness being higher among richer and more educated. Major sources of information were friends or relatives (46.1%) and media (35.2%). Only 6.6% had undergone prior screening.

CONCLUSION

In spite of appreciable knowledge about cancer, creating awareness about screening, its availability, and motivating the general population for screening is necessary.