Breast Cancer Awareness: Go to hospitals, not prayer camps – Father Campbell

Reverend Father Andrew Campbell, Parish Priest of the Christ the King Church has cautioned women to desist from visiting prayer camps and seek medical care from the hospital.

He questioned as to why women seek help from prayer camps and other spiritualists, while the hospitals were built for such purposes.

“One of the main reasons for the poor outcome in Ghana is late presentation. Women report late to the hospital and have all tried herbal medicine, alternative medicine, prayer camps and other spiritualists. Why do people go to all these places? Why go to all these prayer camps."

"If someone came to me and said that they have pain in my breast, that they might have cancer, I will tell them go to hospital, I wouldn’t send you to a prayer camp, I wouldn’t do that. God works through our doctors,” he added.

Speaking at the launch of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, organized by the Breast society of Ghana, he noted the high rise of breast cancer in the country, which has been projected to increase soon.

“The incidence of breast cancer in Ghana is on the rise and it’s projected to increase. Relatively more people die from breast cancer in Ghana and other low and middle-income countries.”

The Humanitarian Personality of the Year, 2018, also called on women in Ghana to desist from visiting the hospital late and therefore urged women to report early to the hospital to seek medical care.

“The truth is early treatment does save lives and there is effective treatment available right here in Ghana.”

However, he has called on women to live a healthy lifestyle and do away with junk foods as well as exercise and eat more fruit and vegetables.

“We all have the answer. We report when the disease has spread beyond the breast, they come when the disease is too advanced to be removed surgically.

“Healthy lifestyle can decrease your risk of getting breast cancer. By eating good food, good wholesome food like vegetables and fruits. I know we’ve got the best fruits and vegetables; less processed foods. We eat so much junk food these days, you go to weddings and funerals, we eat too much junk food; our children are getting obese. And we need regular exercising,” he noted.