Investigating the disparities in cervical cancer screening among Namibian women

• Among Namibian women who have heard about cervical cancer, only 39% reported ever undertaking screening for the disease.
• Our results show that women with health insurance, autonomy in taking health care decision, and higher education screened for cervical cancer.
• We encourage the adoption of a universal health insurance scheme that ensures equity and empower women to demand health services.

ObjectivesWe examined the influence of knowledge and information, health care access and different socio-economic variables on women's decision to screen for cervical cancer using a nationally representative dataset.MethodsWe use hierarchical binary logit regression models to explore the determinants of screening for cervical cancer among women who reported hearing about cervical cancer. This enabled us to include the effect of unobserved heterogeneity at the cluster level that may affect screening behaviors.ResultsAmong women who have heard about cervical cancer (N = 6542), only 39% of them did undergo screening with a mean age of 33 years. The univariate results reveal that women who are educated, insured, can afford money needed for treatment and reported distance not a barrier to accessing healthcare were more likely to screen. Our multivariate results indicate that insured women (OR = 1.89, p = 0.001) and women who had access to information through education and contact with a health worker (OR = 1.41, p = 0.001) were more likely to undertake screening compared to uninsured women and those with no contact with a health personnel, after controlling for relevant variables.ConclusionsThe adoption of a universal health insurance scheme that ensures equity in access to health care and extension of public health information targeting women in rural communities especially within the Caprivi region may be needed for a large scale increase in cervical cancer screening in Namibia.