Accra, Oct. 6, GNA – Africa Cancer Organisation (ACO), a nongovernmental organization, with a focus on breast cancer prevention has stated its resolve to embark on a breast cancer control campaign to increase awareness on the disease.
Mr Paul Opoku Agyemang, the Executive Director of ACO, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the campaign was to commemorate this year’s breast cancer awareness month.
Breast Cancer Month, also known as “Pink October,” is a globally adopted celebration aimed at enhancing awareness creation and prevention of the disease.
He said “2020 has been a powerful reminder that we are all in this together, and our choices and actions have the power to protect the most vulnerable among us in a big way. The same holds when it comes to breast cancer”.
Mr Agyemang said research had indicated that breast cancer was the most frequent cancer among women, affecting 2.1 million women each year, and also caused the greatest number of cancer-related deaths among women.
It is estimated that 627,000 women die from breast cancer every year, representing about 15 percent of all cancer deaths among women.
The Executive Director observed that breast cancer rates were increasing in nearly every region globally, with a sharp rise in developing countries.
“This is a result of changing lifestyles among women, child-bearing patterns, aging population, improved early detection, and diagnosis, among many others”.
He indicated that in Ghana, the majority of breast cancers were diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease, which made treatment expensive and ineffective, and that with a poorer prognosis, the survival rate was poor.
“Some of the reasons for late diagnosis of breast cancers are lack awareness of the disease, lack of organised screening and early detection, patronage of unproven traditional medicines, the intervention of some religious and spiritual institutions, myths, superstitions and misconception surrounding the disease.
“All these and poverty and illiteracy make breast cancer a big problem for the patients, their families, the health systems, and the community as a whole,” Mr Agyemang said.
He said aside from the campaign the ACO was promoting screening and early detection services to help detect the disease at the early stages of conception where treatment was usually less expensive and effective, adding “With your support, we can show every woman that her life is important.
Meanwhile, GNA has gathered that some hospitals and clinics are organizing free breast cancer screenings to encourage more women to get their breasts examined.
GNA