Mrs Sandra Opoku, Director of Tema Port, Ghana Ports, and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has encouraged women to do self-breast assessment as she shared her breast cancer survival story with staff of the company.
Mrs Opoku noted that she was a survivor of breast cancer after eight years of being diagnosed; self-assessment of the breast monthly was very important.
She said any unusual thing detected in the breast should immediately be reported to the hospital for the necessary screening, diagnosis and treatment.
She said this when the GPHA’s Health Services Department organized a health walk and seminar to create awareness on breast cancer and joined the world in celebrating Pink Month with breast screening under the theme: “Breast Cancer, Early Detection, Saves Life.”
Dr. Helen Tettey, Administrator of the GPHA Hospital in Takoradi, said early detection could save a life and reiterated the need for screening.
She said it was worrying that as of the year 2020, over 250,000 cases of breast cancer had been diagnosed in Ghana.
Dr. John Nana Nkrumah, a General Surgeon at the GPHA Hospital, on his part, said for the past five years, about 7.3 million people were living with various stages of breast cancer disease worldwide.
He said people have had it and recovered fully, while others had it and were on surveillance or monitoring, chemotherapy, and palliative care, and still survived.
The American Cancer Society has established that 13 out of 100 women stand the chance of getting diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
