1 woman in 8 has breast cancer in Ghana – Addai

The President of Breast Care International (BCI), Dr Beatrice Wiafe Addai, has urged Ghanaians to support the campaign and fight against breast cancer in the country.

According to the CEO of Peace and Love Hospitals, Ghana needs a robust campaign and sensitisation in fighting breast cancer.

She expressed worry about the increasing rate of cancers in the country as recent statistics suggest one out of every eight women in Ghana have the disease.

Dr Addai said the current 4,645 declared cases are double the figures of 2012.

She blamed the worsening situation on the lack of adequate information and awareness of the disease in rural areas where 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur.

She revealed that a team from BCI visited some schools in Tamale, Northern Region to educate female students about self-examining their breasts and also organised clinical screening exercises for them.

Dr Addai disclosed this in an interview with Class91.3FM’s Northern regional correspondent, Mohamed Gadafi, on Wednesday, 26 September 2018 during the media launch of this year’s BCI Ghana Walk for the Cure programme slated for 27 October 2018. The 8th edition of the campaign is themed: “There Is Hope, Together We Are Stronger than Cancer, Join Us”.

Dr Addai pointed out that: “Most of the ladies we examined had lumps in their breast. Unfortunately, they didn’t even know that they had lumps and that is the problem we are seeing nationwide. A woman would be there and not even know that she has lumps in the breast, so during our outreach programme, we try to encourage them to check their own breasts so that if there is a problem; if there is any change, she would be the first person to notice”.

She said many breast cancer victims in the country report to the hospital late, with about 70 per cent of them seeking medical help at the late stage of the disease.

For his part, Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed commended BCI for choosing the region for this year’s BCI Ghana Walk for The Cure Campaign.

He assured the organisers of the full support of government and the Regional Coordinating Council.

According to the minister, breast cancer education is a necessity for the people in the region, adding that it falls in line with the vision of President Nana Akufo-Addo to have improved healthcare for all citizens.