In furtherance of its core objective of securing a breast cancer free generation in the medium-to-long term, Breast Care International, has once again freely screened over one thousand students of the Ejisuman Senior High School, in the Ashanti region.
In attendance was Breast Care International (BCI) President, Dr. Breatrice Wiafe Addai, who in a post screening interview, told journalists in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, that children present a better option by serving as primary agents for the effective dissemination of breast-cancer related information to their contemporaries and immediate family members.
“We could literally consider and brand these future leaders as uninitiated brand ambassadors in our quest to create a wide pool of talents who would sustain our campaign messages across generations to the public. The youth are technologically inclined, they integrate easily but more importantly, they are free from the traditional notions of witchcraft among other beliefs which partly account for late stage presentation of breast cancer cases to hospitals,” she stated.
The students, numbering more than three thousand, were taking through factors that pre-dispose women to breast cancer including poor dietary habits, alcoholism and family history, with Dr. Wiafe insisting that, breast cancer is treatable, curable, and is neither caused by witchcraft nor any other notional belief, stressing that Africans suffer high mortality rates because of late stage presentation of the disease.
The Breast Care medical team also took the students through the most common non-communicable diseases, especially hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and checked the members of staff for their blood pressure and their sugar level.
Elsewhere at Abankro, a village near Ejisu, also in the region, a similar exercise involving the townsfolk saw several enthusiastic women asking pertinent questions on breast cancer with the team providing answers to the satisfaction of all.
The Abankro programme was at the instance of an indigene resident in Accra, Francis Owusu, whose passion for the welfare of women drove him to invite the BCI team to screen the women of the town.
In attendance were ace actress and breast cancer ambassador, Nana Ama McBrown, who endeared herself to both gatherings as she advised the students to focus on their studies and resist acts of peer pressure.
Queen mothers Nana Serwaa Bonsu the second, and Nana Foriwa Amanfo, were separately present at the two programmes.
Dr. Wiafe again implored the women to carry out breast self- examination and promptly report any abnormality or suspicious development in their breast to hospitals for further examination.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
