The people of Nyinahini in the Ashanti region have benefited from a free breast screening programme sponsored by Delta Airlines with a call on the community and opinion leaders to break the silence on cancers and make public the socio-economic burden of the disease on families and the country in general.
Rekindling the assurance for treatment, Founder and President of Breast Care International, Dr. Beatrice Wiafe Addai, reiterated that public education had proved an effective weapon in the chain to roll back the numbing statistics, but said public admission of the disease by patients and opinion leaders, would consolidate gains and confirm public confidence that breast cancer is curable and survivable.
Dr. Wiafe, also the Chief Executive Officer of the Peace And Love Hospital, commended survivors who have braved stigma and sometimes public ridicule to share their success treatment stories as part of the program by BCI to encourage those suffering silently to break same and step forward, and out of the darkness for treatment.
Speaking to members of the Ebenezer Presby Church, Dr. Beatrice Wiafe Addai, also cautioned the gathering against non-communicable diseases, which she said had become silent killers, and advised the public against lifestyle diseases including diabetes and hypertension.
Turning out in their numbers, the gathering which also included students from the Nyinahini Catholic Senior High school, was assured that people with breast cancer could survive, as evidenced by survivors present who shared their lifetime experiences, but on condition that the disease is detected on time and reported promptly for treatment.
The Reverend George Bekoe Appiah-Korang, the minister in charge of the Nyinahini Presby Church, associated himself with the challenge to break the silence on the condition and implored members to imbibe the breast cancer education given by the BCI team and report any suspicious lump in the breast for prompt action.
The highly patronized free public education program was complemented with free breast screening.
The medical team also screened the public for hypertension and diabetes among other non-communicable diseases.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana