The Rotary Club of Accra-East together with nine Rotary clubs and 4 Rotaract clubs has held a joint breast cancer awareness and screening project at La Bawaleshie Presbyterian School in East Legon, Accra.

The screening, dubbed "Save the Tatas," was part of efforts to drive home the importance of breast screening as a means to promote early detection of breast cancer.

The breast screening exercise was held in partnership with the Savannah Women Advocacy Network (SWAN), Pantang Hospital, and the Presbyterian Church, Beersheba Congregation, on October 12.

The President of the Accra-East Rotary Club, Dorothy Ametepe, led members of the club into the community to invite women and men for free breast screening.

According to her, the club is committed to ensuring more people are tested and reducing the number of deaths from breast cancer caused by late detection.

She explained that a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that right after puberty, many individuals are at risk of developing breast cancer due to a lack of regular checks.

On this basis, she said, “We have dedicated the month of October—Pink October—to breast cancer awareness and screening. However, women shouldn’t wait until October to get screened.”

The president also advised that women learn how to self-screen if they are unable to visit the hospital every month.

After the mobilisation drive, members of the community began to turn up in their numbers for the breast screening.

Both men and women participated, and by the end of the day, about 150 individuals had undergone breast screening.

According to the Service Project Director of Accra Legon East, Oscar Moore, although the club had targeted some 300 individuals for the day, the morning rains disrupted the exercise. However, the group was pleased to have screened more than half of their target.

He explained that the choice of this community was because some residents live below the poverty line, and after assessing their needs, the club decided to focus on Bawaleshie.

Some individuals who participated in the screening expressed their appreciation to the Rotary Club for the initiative.

Esther Dogbe advised other women to get their breasts screened, as it is only through testing that problems can be identified.

“I think the screening was very good, and my advice to all ladies is that they check how healthy their breasts are,” she said.

Oyeh Amoako Addo also said the screening was beneficial to the community members and encouraged the Rotary Club to return each year to sensitise women in the area and across the country on the need for breast cancer screening.

Delight Dzatse said she didn’t feel any pain while undergoing the screening. She advised other teenagers to come out for breast examinations.

“If people come to their area, they shouldn’t be afraid but should get tested,” she said.

There was also an awareness training session led by a senior midwifery officer at Pantang Hospital Grace Appiah.

She educated club members on ways to detect breast cancer and advised everyone to be familiar with the size of their breasts so they could easily identify any abnormalities.

Madam Grace said, “If you don’t know your normal [breast size], you cannot detect the abnormal.”

After the breast screening, some women were referred to the hospital to undergo scans and mammograms to further investigate the causes of any abnormalities detected.

Over the years, Save the Tatas (Joint Breast cancer awareness and screening project) has screened and educated over 800 women and the Club hopes that projects like these continue to have a positive impact on women's health.