Awareness and Practice of Breast Cancer and Breast-self Examination among University Students in Yemen

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among females in Yemen and world-wide,Yemeni women are still facing an increasing threat to it in recent years and optimal chances for survival fromBC in women can be achieved by detecting it early by Breast self examination (BSE).
Objective: To assess theknowledge, attitude and practice of breast cancer and breast self examination among female university studentsin Al-Mukalla city-2009.
Methods: a cross sectional descriptive study was carried out among 425 female universitystudents in Al-Mukalla city by using self administered questionnaire.
Results: the study indicated that majorityof participants had low level of knowledge of BC 58.6%. Only 1.4% had gained high level of knowledge. 95.3%of participants believed BC is a serious disease. It was found that despite 76.9% of participants heard aboutBSE, only 17.4% of them were performing it. 55.9% mentioned lack of knowledge about technique of BSE as abarrier for not practicing BSE. Mass media 81.6 % and 67.3% was the first source of information about BC andBSE mentioned by the participants respectively.
Conclusion: the majority of participants heard about BC, buttheir knowledge and understanding of the disease was very low. The most known method of BC detection wasBSE, however the majority never practice it due to lack of knowledge about technique.