The Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Said has urged his fellow men to support their wives when they are diagnosed with the breast cancer disease adding that those patients need their attention to survive the disease instead of leaving them to their fate.
He said because of the misconception and stigmatization surrounding the disease, women having the disease tend to hide it from been divorced and thrown out of the house, a situation the Regional Minister believes affects the family and the socio-economy of the country as they play key role .
Hon. Salifu Said, who chaired the event, said this during the launch of the 8th edition of the ‘BCI Walk for the Cure, Ghana’ in Tamale, the Northern regional capital on Wednesday, September 26, 2018, with the theme ‘Together we are stronger than Cancer’, by the Breast Care International (BCI), an non-governmental organization breast cancer advocate, has launched
The walk, which is 8th in succession, is the country’s largest and most successful awareness creation event for breast cancer and was initiated in 2011 as the ‘Susan G. Komen Ghana Race for the Cure’ and is scheduled to be held on Saturday, October 27, 2018.
The aim of the walk, which is in collaboration with Peace and love Hospitals in Kumasi and Accra, is to demystify the myths and misconceptions about the disease which has recorded increased cases among women in Ghana.
The event is expected to attract more than 60,000 people and will be graced by high profile dignitaries like the Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Said, the Mayor of Tamale Municipal, Hon. Iddrisu Musah Superior, Ministers of States, Government’s Appointees, Traditional rulers, Breast Cancer Survivals, identifiable groups, students, among others.
Hon. Said, believes “that women play important role in the family and anything that affects them affect the family and the society at large, and therefore I ask you (men) to encourage women to have periodical checks in their breasts”.
“We men like fondling with our wives breasts, as we play with them we should be also looking for any unusual thing in the breasts. If the woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, we should support them at all levels, as Dr. Wiafe said, the disease is preventable and curable,”.
Speaking at the event, President of BCI, Dr. Mrs. Beatrice Wiafe Addai said the fight against breast cancer disease should be a collective responsibility not by one individual of group of people through awareness creation, and choosing Tamale will be the best platform for Northern, Upper East and West regions, which have a lot of reported late stages of the disease.
Dr. Wiafe Addai who is the President-elect for the Africa Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) explained that “the myth surrounding the disease that it is caused by witchcraft and curse on a family should be demystified through extensive education to make them aware that it is preventable and curable when detected and reported early to the hospital”.
She added that “breast cancer had become a national concern which needed to be addressed properly through awareness creation and screening of women”.
“It behoves on us, as those who can make a difference, to do everything in our power to save as many lives as we can,” she concluded.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah
