Abstract
Objectives: The goals of the paper are to find out if there is any relationship between breast cancer preventive/curative measures and the contents of media campaign against it; ascertain if the media campaign established a high level of awareness among women; and examine the relationship between breast cancer awareness and the practice of preventive/curative behaviours.
 
 Subjects & Methods: The paper adopts a cross-sectional survey method that involves primary and secondary methods of data collection. Structured questionnaire was used to collect responses from women in relation to questions raised while published materials such as relevant books, journal articles, conference and workshop papers, and internet materials were reviewed to ascertain the current level and dimensions of research findings in the field across the world. Review of literature lasted for 8 weeks while distribution and collection of questionnaire lasted for 5 weeks. The study area is Southeast Nigeria, which comprises the five Igbo speaking states of Nigeria. A sample of 1000 women was randomly selected from markets, churches, schools, and civil service in the capitals of these states, i.e. Abakiliki, Awka, Enugu, Owerri, and Umuahia for the distribution of the structured questionnaire.200 questionnaires were distributed in each of the five study areas using multi stage random sampling technique with the aid of three research assistants. Their responses were tabulated and analysed using descriptive statistics in the SPSS version 20.0 tools.
 
 Results: Results reveal a high level of breast cancer awareness although only 31.2% learnt of it through media campaign; the awareness did not orchestrate health behaviour modification among the respondents; while lack of appropriate knowledge of breast cancer disease, lack of fund and high cost of cancer treatment, and absence of accessible treatment facilities are the cause.
 
 Conclusion: Media campaign against breast cancer in the Southeast Nigeria is deficient in terms of scope, reach, and contents. Secondly, poor standard of living and lack of appropriate corporate response to campaign and treatment of the disease are major problems. Therefore, modification of media contents and campaign programmes, together with government assisted breast cancer treatment mechanisms are recommended.
Highlights
Breast Cancer is a common female terminal disease across the world and in every culture with more than 4.7million new cases reported annually. 55% of this number occurs in Less Developing Countries (Adetifa & Ojikutu, 2009)
The goals of the paper are to find out if there is any relationship between breast cancer preventive/curative measures and the contents of media campaign against it; ascertain if the media campaign established a high level of awareness among women; and examine the relationship between breast cancer awareness and the practice of preventive/curative behaviours
Results reveal a high level of breast cancer awareness only 31.2% learnt of it through media campaign; the awareness did not orchestrate health behaviour modification among the respondents; while lack of appropriate knowledge of breast cancer disease, lack of fund and high cost of cancer treatment, and absence of accessible treatment facilities are the cause
Summary
Breast Cancer is a common female terminal disease across the world and in every culture with more than 4.7million new cases reported annually. 55% of this number occurs in Less Developing Countries (Adetifa & Ojikutu, 2009). The spread of breast cancer has continued to increase at the rate 50–100% globally (Hayam, Howida, & Zakeya, 2014) and 0.5% each year since 1985 in Nigeria (WHO, 2004). Despite the growing campaigns on breast cancer awareness in Nigeria generally and Southeast (Okobia, Bunker, Okonofua, et al, 2006), the rates of its spread tend to grow while the practice of required gjhs.ccsenet.org. Civil society organisations, and relevant agencies in the Southeast Nigeria embarked on multiple media programmes using different radio channels, televisions, newspapers, and social media to create awareness of the cancer, its preventive and curative behaviours or measures. This paper investigates the phenomenon in Southeast with a view to the level and nature of awareness therein, and the associated influence on the health behaviour of women
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