CEO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Daniel Asare, has entreated women to pay serious attention to their breasts as they can either make them keep or lose a man.
Speaking at the launch of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Asare noted that most men adore women’s breast, hence, the need for women to ensure their breasts are healthy all the time.
“The breast is so lovely, and they are paired organs that some men love so much yet it’s become the seat of deadly diseases,” he said.
According to Dr Asare, regular personal checks of the breast can help women prevent breast cancer.
For those already diagnosed with the disease, Dr Asare expressed his pleasure about the addition of Herceptin (a drug for the treatment of breast cancer) to the NHIS list of medications to ease the financial burden on patients.
“The advocacy has gone so well that now, even those who get breast cancer somehow relief of financial burden because they pushed and pushed so well that even the drug Herceptin have been put on the NHIS since the advocacy last year” he stated.
He however noted that this should not cause women to ignore regular breast screening as prevention is always better than cure.
Dr Asare also urged survivors to share their story to encourage other women pay attention to their breasts for early detection and medical attention.
Background
The Breast Cancer Awareness Month, marked in countries across the world every October, helps to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of this disease.
There are about 1.38 million new cases and 458 000 deaths from breast cancer each year (IARC Globocan, 2008). Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, both in the developed and developing countries. In low- and middle-income countries the incidence has been rising up steadily in the last years due to increase in life expectancy, increase urbanization and adoption of western lifestyles.
Currently there is not sufficient knowledge on the causes of breast cancer, therefore, early detection of the disease remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. When breast cancer is detected early, and if adequate diagnosis and treatment are available, there is a good chance that breast cancer can be cured. If detected late, however, curative treatment is often no longer an option. In such cases, palliative care to relief the suffering of patients and their families is needed.
