HEALTH PROFESSIONALS’ WILLINGNESS TO PAY AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS FOR CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING PROGRAM AT COLLEGE OF MEDICENE AND HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSIRY OF GONDAR, NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: cervical cancer is a more prevalent disease of developing countries like Ethiopia. Cervical cancer screening is one method of cervical cancer prevention. Cervical cancer screening service has been given to risky groups in Ethiopia since 2013. But there is no study which shows the benefit (monetary value) of cervical cancer screening program to the beneficiaries on health professional perspective. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the female health professionals’ willingness to pay and associated factors for cervical cancer screening program at College of Medicine and Health Sciences in University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods and Martial: Institutional based cross-sectional study design was used to assess the health professionals’ willingness to pay for cervical screening program from March to April, 2018. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 418 samples from a list of female health professionals who has been working in College of Medicine and Health Sciences. The data was entered into EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed by using STATA version 14. Tobit model was used to identify factors associated with willingness to pay and regression coefficient and p-value with 95% confidence level was used to measure the strength and presence of statistical association. Result: A total of 392 respondents were participated in the study with a response rate of 93.8%. Majority (83.42%) of health professionals’ were willing to pay for cervical cancer screening service. The average amount of money the health professionals willing to pay for cervical cancer screening was 194.7 ETB (US$7.16) per service. The study showed that age > 30 years (P = 0.019; ß=-25), educational status (P-Value= 0.048; ß= 48), high perceived seriousness of cervical cancer (P-value =0.000; ß=139.2), high perceived quality of cervical cancer screening service (P-value = 0.000; ß= 228), and monthly income (P-value = 0.000; ß=0.04) were identified as significant factors to WTP for cervical cancer screening. Conclusion and recommendation: - Majority of respondents were willing to pay for cervical cancer screening service. To increase the benefit of program, it is good to focus arising awareness on seriousness of cervical cancer and deliver quality service. Key words; Cervical Cancer, Screening Program, Willingness to Pay, University of Gondar