By Seth Ayiah
Speakers at the launch of “Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project” in Accra, have called on Government to make breast cancer treatment free of charge. They have, therefore, suggested to government to increase the NHIL component of the VAT from two-point-five percent to three percent to guarantee a sustainable and dedicated source of funding for the free treatment of the disease. The speakers acknowledged that though early detection is critical for successful treatment, more lives will be saved if it is free.
The “Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project” is the brainchild of the Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation, an NGO, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, to actualize the wish of her wife, Amina Oppong Kwarteng, who died of breast cancer three months ago. Her wish was to raise awareness and treatment of the disease if she recovered. Unfortunately, she did not survive to pursue her wish.
Mr. Oppong Kwarteng said breast cancer campaign should not be restricted to only October every year. It should be a daily campaign to eradicate the stigma to encourage women to do more self-examination and those who detect a lump in their breast to go for early treatment. “It is important for government to ensure that breast cancer campaigns are intensified and not wait for only October every year, though the October campaign is good it is not good enough. If this is done people will get to know how dangerous the disease is”.
The Head of the Breast Cancer Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Florence Dedey, was worried that out of the four thousand breast cancer patients identified annually, two thousand of them unfortunately die. She attributed the unfortunate situation to late detection, cost of treatment, and the lack of access to treatment facilities.
Dr. Dedey said ‘This is a much-needed initiative considering the state of breast cancer in Ghana as at now. So, I am therefore very excited about the Meena Breast Cancer Project”.
She was optimistic that the Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project will succeed as more and women will come forward to be diagnosed and supported through their treatment. “I know with the passion of Mr. Oppong Kwarteng to ensure that Amina’s dream is realized this project will be successful and impact the lives especially of Ghanaian women. I know more women will be encouraged to come forward to be diagnosed early and supported through their treatment so that the numbers lost to breast cancer will be reduced”.
A Resident Nurse at the Oncology Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Abigail Olympio-Deku, presented a scary-statistics on breast cancer cases reported at the department annually. “But with the studies indicating the rather shift in the cancer burden to women in their early 30s in Ghana as compared to the Western world, it begs to wonder if our adopted approaches to these awareness creations are the most effective”.
She, therefore, questioned the effectiveness of the awareness campaigns embarked on over the years. Madam Olympio-Deku proposed that the new approach must target the youth in basic, secondary and tertiary levels of education. “We want to propose a novel approach to the breast cancer advocacy. We want this project to be tailored at the younger population who may be concentrated in our secondary schools and in our universities. We believe that targeting this niche of group holds many advantages”.
Some breast cancer survivors and patients shared their experiences to encourage more women to speak out and to also address stigmatization. The Crime Check Foundation through its Health Check Series presented wax prints to them.