Save poor, vulnerable from breast cancer

The President and Founder of Breast Care International (BCI), Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai, has called for more action from civil society and policy makers to combat the rampaging effects of breast cancer on the poor and vulnerable in society.

She said continued inaction and the communication gap were being exploited by quacks and other untrained hands, further compounding the already precarious situation.

“We are becoming numb to breast cancer mortality statistics as another new normal, a trend which must be resisted in  the protection of our women by highlighting the myriad of challenges associated with the disease and the need to fight it, head-on,”  she stressed.

Awareness creation

Speaking to the media in Accra last Monday, Dr Wiafe Addai, who is a breast surgeon, said sustained awareness creation remained the most potent tool against the disease.

The BCI founder singled the media out for praise in the area of education on the disease.

She also commended survivors who continued to endure the disease under the stress of COVID-19 and its attendant drawbacks.

Dr Wiafe Addai, who is also the Chief Executive Officer and Consultant Breast Surgeon of the Peace and Love Hospitals in Accra and Kumasi, said breast cancer had “resisted scientific knowledge and research about its exact antecedents, except to say alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, cigarette smoking and known family history, largely predisposed women to the condition”.

She cautioned  against justifying the apparent neglect of the disease on economic hardships, saying there could be no better time to help the poor and needy than in hard times.

Ignorance

Dr Wiafe Addai said ignorance had been a huge impediment in the awareness creation chain, and wondered why so much effort continued to be invested in other conditions while innocent indigent breast cancer women died needlessly by the day, especially in rural Ghana.

"The BCI is interested in maximising opportunities for the collective good of cancer patients, particularly breast cancer survivors," she stated.

 "BCI is resilient and refuses to be outdone by challenges posed by COVID-19, hence the decision to keep the awareness creation campaign alive all year long in order to ameliorate the living conditions of our patients and survivors,” Dr Wiafe Addai added.

She said the organisation considered health as a corporate affair which imposed a responsibility on governments,  corporations, associations, partnerships and  individuals in high positions to contribute generously towards the welfare of the vulnerable, breast cancer patients and survivors.

Commendation

Dr Wiafe Addai commended corporate entities, multinationals and individuals who, in diverse ways, contributed towards two successful fundraising events organised by the BCI in Accra and Kumasi.

"We cannot yield the entirety of our health budget to COVID-19, while other similarly fatal diseases are neglected. We are calling for equal attention and equal opportunity for breast cancer patients who continue to endure indignities even though the disease is curable,“ she said.