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Cancer is the leading cause of death in Korea. Therefore, a National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) was launched in 1999. This study planned to evaluate the performance of the NCSP to identifying the influencing factors in relation to characteristic public health centers.To analyze the performance, the database of the NCSP records for 2002 was used. The performance index was measured by the goal achievement rate, which was defined by the real number of screenees against the expected number of screenees. Also, a survey was conducted by a self-administered questionnaire to identify the factors associated with the goal achievement rate. The questionnaire was divided into two sections. In the first section, the individual characteristics of the program coordinator in each public health center were measured, and second section was comprised of questions about the organizational characteristics associated with the NCSP. A total of 121 subjects from 241 public health centers completed the questionnaire.Of the 121 public health centers (50.2% response rate), the average goal achievement rate was 72.8%. The results of the regression model showed that public health centers located in rural area (parameter estimates=38.2) and had great support from a head of center or province (parameter estimates=0.20) and tended to have higher goal achievement rates. However, the characteristics of the program coordinator, especially their knowledge of and attitude toward cancer screening, were not significantly related to the goal achievement rates.It appears that the most important associated factors to the goal achievement rate in the NSCP were the location of the public health center and the support for the NCSP from the head of the center or province.

The goal of this study is to measure women's willingness to pay for cancer screening and to identify those factors associated with this willingness to payA population-based telephone survey was performed on 1,562 women (aged 30 years or over) for 2 weeks (9-23th, July, 2004). Data about sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, the intention of the cancer screenings and willingness to pay for cancer screening were collected. 1,400 respondents were included in the analysis. The women's willingness to pay for cancer screening and the factors associated with this willingness to pay were evaluated.The results show that 76% of all respondents have a willingness to pay for cancer screening. Among those who are willing to pay, the average and median amount of money for which the respondents are willing to pay are 126,636 (s.d.: 58,414) and 120,000 won, respectively. As the status of educationthe income are higher, the average amount that women are willing to pay becomes much more. The amount of money women are willing to pay is the highest during the 'contemplation' stage. Being willing to pay or not is associated with a change of behavior (transtheoretical model), the income, the concern about the cancer risk, the family cancer history, the marital status, the general health exam, age and the place of residence. Income is associated with a greater willingness to pay. Old age was associated with a lower willingness to pay.According to the two-part model, income and TTM are the most important variables associated with the willingness to pay for cancer screening. The cancer screening participation rate is low compared with the willingness to pay for cancer screening. It is thought that we have to consider the participants' behavior that's associated with cancer screening and their willingness to pay in order to organize and manage cancer screening program.