Willingness to Pay for Cancer Screening in Dagoretti North Constituency: Contingent Valuation Estimates

Abstract

Statistical estimates indicate that cancer is the third highest cause of mortality in Kenya with an estimated 7% of deaths per year (20,000 deaths per year) and 28,000 new cases per year. Globally, cancer is recognized as second only to cardiovascular diseases in causing deaths; constituting nearly 13% (over 7.9 million deaths) of global annual mortality. The 'disease burden' exacerbated by cancer is thus a cause for worry in many an economy. Early detection of cancer through screening continue to receive a lot of advocacy as a principal approach to fighting cancer worldwide and more so in low resource settings such as Kenya. But the question is, given that screening for cancer is not free (except for anecdotal cases of free screening campaigns) then what amount are people willing to pay for it and what, if any, influences their willingness and by extension the amount to pay? This study, through a contingent investigation (CYM approach), has attempted to tackle this question. The study focused on Dagoretti North Constituency in where a previous study had found low uptake of cancer screening. A pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. A log-log model was used to investigate the relationship or elasticity between WTP and the factors that were hypothesized to influence it. To the extent that few, if any, studies in Kenya have examined the willingness to pay for cancer screening as a lifesaving intervention, this study is a contribution towards filling this gap. Findings from this study have valuable implications for health policy making with respect to fighting cancer. The study is also an addition to the existing literature on healthcare seeking behaviour and more particularly to the hitherto unexplored area of the econorn ics of cancer screening.