Medifem Multi-Specialist Hospital & Fertility Centre has carried out a free breast screening exercise for residents of Danfa, a suburb of Ayi Mensah in the Greater Accra Region.

The screening is to help raise awareness and promote early detection of breast cancer cases.

The exercise was carried out in collaboration with the Christ Anglican Church, Legon as part of activities marking the Church’s outreach program to the community last Friday.

Lead General Practitioner at the hospital, Dr. Choice O. Wereko-Dankwa who led the team of health personnel said the program highlighted Medifem’s commitment to making its expertise available to communities where it operates.

She commended Christ Anglican Church for the support and stressed the need for more organizations to collaborate with healthcare providers to raise awareness on the disease since it is one of the major causes of death among women in Ghana.

Patrons of the outreach thanked the Church and Medifem Hospital for bringing such a program to the area. 

For many of the community folks, this was the first time they were being screened for signs and symptoms of breast cancer as well as receiving some education on the condition.

Background

Breast cancer starts when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control. These cells usually form a tumor that can often be felt as a lump. The tumor is malignant (cancer) if the cells can grow into surrounding tissues or spread to distant areas of the body. This occurs mainly in women with just 2% rate of occurrence in men. 

More than a million women worldwide are diagnosed each year and over half of the women die from the disease.

In Ghana, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) alone records about 400 new cases every year of which over 1,000 people eventually die. The age group most affected is between 40 and 49. 

It is reported that About 60-70% of patients seek medical attention only at very late stages of cancer when little or nothing can be done about their situation, hence the need for sensitization to enable women to detect changes in their breast early enough and report on time. 

With the month of October being the World Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is expected that stakeholders in the health sector will intensify efforts at raising awareness of the disease.