Health experts in the Ashanti Region are raising alarm over rising breast cancer cases.
According to an Oncologist, Dr. Abena Addai Wiafe of Peace and Love Hospital nabout 2,895 people die from breast cancer every year in Ghana, while more than 5,000 new cases are recorded annually.
She’s calling for early screening and public education to help save lives.
Breast cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in Ghana.
And in the Ashanti Region, the figures are worrying.
_The reason is late reporting. Most people come to the hospital when the cancer is already at stage 3 or 4. If we catch it early, the survival rate is very high.”_
Dr. Wiafe says many patients delay seeking treatment due to stigma, fear, and lack of knowledge about early warning signs.
She is therefore urging women, and men too, to regularly check their breasts and visit the hospital immediately they notice any lump or unusual changes.
She also called on government and stakeholders to make screening more accessible and affordable, especially in rural areas like Mampong.
_”We need to take breast cancer screening to the communities. We need to educate our mothers, sisters and daughters that breast cancer is not a death sentence if detected early. Let’s break the silence and let’s get checked.
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Health workers here in Mampong say awareness campaigns are ongoing, but more needs to be done to change attitudes toward screening.
Dr. Wiafe is advising that both women and men do a self-breast examination every month and have a clinical screening at least once a year.
Early detection, she says, saves lives.
She brought fore this during a breast screen exercise at the St.Monicas College of Education which was organised by the Breast Care International.