'Breast cancer is the number one cancer killer among women' - Dr Wiafe Addai warns

Women have been advised to desist from activities that may increase the risks of developing breast cancer, the number one cancer killer among women.

Among the risks, according to Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai, include alcohol intake, fatty diets, skin-lightening creams, lack of exercise, and cigarette and shisha smoking.

Other risk factors that need urgent attention are women with positive breast cancer history, women who have had lumps in their breasts before, and women with reoccurrence of infections with the breasts.

She said this during a free breast cancer education and screening at Duayaw Nkwanta in the Tano North municipal in the Ashanti region.

The exercise dubbed “Kick Breast Cancer Out” forms part of BCI’s awareness creation on the control and reduction of breast cancer in rural communities where the disease is highly recorded.

The program held on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, was organized by Breast Care International (BCI) in collaboration with Peace and Love Hospitals and supported by Delta Air Lines.

It was attended by people in and around Duayaw Nkwanta.

Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai, who is the President of Breast Care International (BCI), stated that the causal agents of breast cancer are not yet known but it falls within some risk factors.

“What causes breast cancer is not known but being a woman puts you at risk of contracting the disease. Alcohol intake, fatty diets, women who have had lumps in their breasts before, women with positive breast cancer history, lack of exercise, and cigarette smoking,” she said.

Apart from the risk factors, Dr Wiafe Addai also advised women to adopt regular clinical breast cancer screenings to know their status to avoid late-stage presentation that may lead to early death.

“A lot of women are dying needlessly from the disease, and perhaps if they had come early to the hospital, they could be saved; their breasts could be saved and their lives as well,” she added.

Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai, the CEO of Peace and Love Hospital, posited that “breast cancer strives every day and in every 19 seconds a woman somewhere is diagnosed with breast cancer”.

This, she urged women to immediately report to a health facility if they find a lump or anything unusual in the breasts for prompt action to be taken.

The Queen Mother of Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Area, Nana Serwaa Nyarko, appealed to mothers to encourage their girl children to go for clinical breast cancer screening regularly.

She said that will enable them to support their children if lumps are detected.