Dr Beatrice Wiafe Addai, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Breast Care International (BCI), says breast cancer is not caused by witchcraft or hereditary genes and urged Ghanaians to seek early diagnosis for early treatment.

She said women were dying from breast cancer because of the mythical misconception that it was a spiritual curse, leading many to spiritual doctors and prayer camps where they waste away.

She said lack of proper early diagnoses caused delay in detection, leading to the spread of the disease to the lungs, brains, bones, and liver, resulting in death.

She was speaking at the walk against breast cancer organised by Breast Care International Ghana on Saturday, October 7, in Accra. The walk was on the theme, ‘Breaking the myth while looking for cure’.

This year’s walk was through the principal streets of Accra to target market women.

According to her, breast cancer is the number one killer disease among women and called on the public to stop hiding in their rooms, especially women who waste time and scare resources at prayer camps and unapproved treatment centres.

She called for avoidance of some risk factors, including excessive alcohol intake, smoking, lack of exercise, fatty foods and bleaching creams.

Dr Addai said smoking among the youth had become rampant and urged government to ban the use of ‘Shisha’ (Hookah) at pubs and bars to save the youth especially young women.

She said every year in Ghana, ‘4,650 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, out of it, over 2,020 women die which is about 50 per cent, hence, we must treat the disease as a killer disease.’

She appealed for support from stakeholders to create awareness and education to remove fallacies and reduce the number of people dying from curable diseases.

Eze Dr Chukwudi Ihenetu, Paramount King of the Igbo Community in Ghana, urged families to support poor breast cancer patients to access quality healthcare, reiterating the need for early detection.

He encouraged the Government to create policies and programmes to facilitate the free-will of women to visit hospitals for treatment.

The walk ended with a free health screening which was heavily patronized.

Source: Ghana News Agency