The Chairperson of Breast Care International (BCI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Dr. Mrs. Beatrice Wiafe Addai said they have reviewed and devised new communication tools and strategies which dovetail into both traditional and social media platforms in their renewed and unwavering determination to create and sustain awareness about cancers, while expanding treatment opportunities for all.
She said the increasing number of cancer cases recorded annually at their health institutions, of which a good number of them very young patients, gives good reason for incorporating social media platforms into their communication strategy to draw the attention of the younger population to the debilitating effects of cancers and the urgent need to report the condition promptly to hospitals for effective treatment.
Dr. Wiafe Addai, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Peace and love Hospitals (PLH) in Kumasi and Accra, said this during her speech on Sunday February 4, 2018, in Kumasi, in celebrating World Cancer Day, with a global theme, “WE CAN, I CAN”.
World cancer day, championed by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), every year, voices against what the World Health Organization recently recognized for the first time as the leading cause of global morbidity.
The celebration was graced by dignitaries like Asemhene, Nana Ampofo Kyei-Baffour, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei Mensah and Kumasi City Mayor, Hon. Osei Assibey Antwi.
“BCI has several online links to their specialists on their website, have integrated the various social media platforms into the site and they could be contacted at the click of a bottom from the comfort of their homes for all cancer related consultancy services while providing answers and feedback on frequently asked questions,” she explained.
She stated that statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO), and other reputable research findings regrettably capture and project cancers as the leading cause of death in almost every region of the globe, and by the year 2030, if nothing is done, about 70 percent of all cancer deaths would be coming from the developing world, “a situation which demands urgent media attention, both traditional and social, in a bid to scale down the frightening cancer related mortality figures, the statement emphasized.”
“It is not by accident that the youth has been charged globally in the campaign to draw on the immense popularity and influence of social media to highlight and bring to the fore, risks associated with cancers and their devastating effects on families, society and national productivity levels,” she added.
Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei Mensah acknowledged the immeasurable contribution of BCI in creating awareness about breast cancer in particular and other communicable diseases and pledged increased cooperation to attain the target of reducing cancer deaths by 25% by 2025.
“Let’s all appreciate the good works of Dr. Wiafe Addai in the awareness creation, controlling and prevention of cancers, especially the breast cancer in the country and beyond. It is for this reasons that the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), is collaborating with her BCI and PLH to organise a “Cancer Competition” at the senior high school level, during celebration of every Independence Day, as means of creating awareness among the youth,” he stated.
Free screening of breast, cervical and prostate cancers were organised after the programme by the Peace and Love Hospital for the participants, at the Kumasi Technical University, where the event took place.
Source: otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah
