Macrolevel Analysis of Labour Productivity Losses Associated With Breast Cancer Among Women in 47 African Countries

Background: Breast cancer remains one of the major diseases affecting women in the world. Relative to high‐income settings, women in low‐income settings such as Africa are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer and are more likely to die when they are affected by the disease. Apart from the negative health consequences of breast cancer, it could also reduce the labour productivity (LP) of the affected persons, at both the micro‐ and macrolevels. Nonetheless, empirical evidence on LP effects of breast cancer are scant and mostly focused on the microlevel and, hence, do not provide broader insights into the productivity losses associated with the disease. This study, to the best of our knowledge, therefore, provides the first cross‐country macrolevel empirical evidence of the effect of breast cancer (among women) on LP in Africa. Methods: The study uses data on 47 African countries spanning the period 1992–2021. Disability‐Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) associated with breast cancer in women is used as the baseline measure of breast cancer, while Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) and deaths associated with the disease in women are used as robustness measures. The system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression is used as the main estimation technique, while two other estimators are used for robustness purposes. Results: Our analysis reveals a negative statistically significant association between breast cancer DALYs and LP. Specifically, we find a percentage increase in breast cancer DALYs to be associated with a 0.27% and 0.87% fall in LP in the short‐ and long‐run periods, respectively, at the 1% level of significance. The findings are robust using the other measures of breast cancer and different estimation techniques. Conclusion: There is a need to enhance measures towards breast cancer prevention and control in Africa such as timely diagnosis, all‐inclusive management of breast cancer, health promotion geared towards early detection and the creation of dependable referral systems to significantly reduce its associated LP losses.