Asokore Mampong Community Receives Free Breast Cancer Education And Screening

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death and the most common cause of hospital admissions among Ghanaian women. Sixty percent of Ghanaian women delay seeking medical consultation for breast problems. Since breast cancer symptom progression is a time dependent factor, significant delay in diagnosis and treatment can result in advanced stage of the disease and lowered chances of survival. It is for this reason that Breast Care International (BCI), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) was founded in 2002, with the vision of reducing the increasing Mortality and Morbidity of breast cancer in Ghana. As a result over the past twelve years, BCI in collaboration with the Peace and Love Hospitals (PLH) is leading the fight against breast cancer in Ghana through awareness creation, education towards early detection, and Clinical screening of the public for symptoms of breast cancer especially those in deprived communities in Ghana. On Sunday the 11th January, 2015, a Medical team from BCI and Peace and Love Hospitals led by Dr. (Mrs.) Beatrice Wiafe Addai, President of BCI and CEO of Peace and Love Hospitals, gave a pictorial presentation on breast cancer to the people of Asokore Mampong in Kumasi. The program was organized by another NGO, the Network Empowered Youth for Development (NEYOD) at the Full Gospel Baptist Church led by Hilton Terry Kessi. The program was attended by a large crowd of people mostly women from the Baptist Church, Catholic Church and the Church of Pentecost, as well as people from the Community, who do not belong to any of the aforementioned churches. The participants were taught how to properly perform their own Breast Self-Examination (BSE). Speaking to the participants, Dr. Wiafe Addai urged the women to regularly check their breasts and report any suspicious symptom to appropriately trained health care professionals for evaluation. She recommended that the audience should take advantage of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for accessing quality health care because cancer treatment is expensive without the National Health Insurance. The women were given the opportunity to ask questions and answers were given to their satisfaction. Dr. Wiafe donated 288 pieces of breast self examination kits to the participants to enable them conduct their Breast Self-Examination on a monthly basis. Pastor Isaac Opoku who is the associate pastor of Full Gospel Church Baptist Church on behalf of the participants expressed his gratitude to Dr. Wiafe and her Team for their support. He added �this is the first of it kind� in the community. Following the educational program, the medical team clinically screened over five hundred women for symptoms of breast diseases especially breast cancer. Those with suspicious symptoms were refereed to hospitals for further investigations and treatment. Blood donation exercise was also conducted to support breast cancer patients in need of blood.