�Breast Cancer Not Spiritual Disease�

The President of Breast Care International (BCI), Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai, has advised women against attributing the cause of breast cancer disease to a curse or something spiritual. She said it was about time the myth surrounding breast cancer was demystified and considered to be like any other disease which needed to be treated early to prevent death. Dr Wiafe Addai, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Peace and Love Hospitals, gave the advice while addressing a day�s breast cancer education and screening exercise at Agona Swedru in the Central Region last Saturday. The event was attended by project children and their caregivers under James Mckeown, Calvary Methodist and First Baptist Child Development Centres (CDCs), under Compassion International. According to her, most women, after identifying symptoms of the disease, attribute it to a curse and rather go to prayer camps for treatment and visit hospitals only at a point where the disease has reached a fatal stage. Early detection She stated that such acts should be stopped to help reduce the rate at which breast cancer was killing a lot of women in Ghana and over the world. She explained that breast cancer was the number one killer disease among women all over the world and that the fight against it was a global one aimed at reducing its prevalence rate. She mentioned that the cause of the disease had not yet been found and called on children in particular to report any deformity in their breasts to their parents so that early medical treatment could be sought. She called on the beneficiaries to do regular breast self-examination to enable them to detect any deformity and report to a specialist for treatment. She stressed that the disease was curable though it was one of the communicable diseases, adding that women should as quickly as possible detect any abnormal changes in the breast through examination. She called on the public to do away with the myths, misconceptions as well as the stigma about the disease which had put fear in many women, preventing them from seeking medical care. She called for an aggressive awareness campaign against the disease since lack of knowledge about it had compelled most affected women to delay its treatment. Organiser of the event The Organiser of the event, Mr Francis Kwesi Ackom, told the Daily Graphic that breast cancer disease was causing the death of many women including young ladies and it was necessary for education on the disease to be intensified to help control it. He indicated that the event was organised for the children who needed to be well-equipped with knowledge about the disease at their tender age so that they would be in a better position to report any strange changes in their breast for medical attention.