By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, Oct. 19, GNA – Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe-Addai, the Chief Executive Officer, Breast Care International (BCI), has appealed to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to extend the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) support to breast cancer patients.
She explained that the support could give relief to those patients, especially those located at deprived and hard to reach communities, to cater for their transportation to treatment centres.
That, she believed, could prevent delays in reporting the disease for early treatment and the needless breast cancer deaths among patients.
Dr Mrs Wiafe-Addai was addressing members of the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association (GHABA) at their 50th Anniversary celebration in Kumasi.
Present at the ceremony was the Deputy Minister Designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Francisca Oteng Mensah, the Special Guest of Honour.
Dr Mrs Wiafe-Addai said breast cancer was deadly and particular attention must be given to its care at all levels.
Research shows that every 19 seconds, a woman somewhere dies from breast cancer and admonished women and men alike to seek early care to save their lives.
She said they must shun misconstrued thoughts that breast cancers were spiritual ailment.
She said higher cases of the deadly disease, which had no known causes, were being reported worldwide, and said: “It is not only Ghanaian women who develop breast cancer so forget about people’s opinions and myths on it having spiritual links, the disease has no connection with spirituality.”
Dr Wiafe-Addai took the opportunity to advise hairdressers and beauticians to take their professions seriously and undertake refresher courses in modern trends and styling to enable them to stay on top of their businesses.
She suggested that they started selling cancer survivor prostheses such as breast cups and hair scarfs at their shops, which could also fetch them extra money.
Ms Tina Offei Yirenkyi, the National President of GHABA, said the Association would continue to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders for innovative solutions that would put the industry on a better pedestal.
It was also mobilising training programmes for members to improve on technical competencies that met international standards, she said.
GNA