October is breast cancer awareness month
The month of October is recognised worldwide as Pink October. It is celebrated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM).
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It is an annual international health campaign organised by major breast cancer organisations to increase awareness of the disease.
In most advanced countries, the celebration is used to raise funds for research into the cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of breast cancer. The campaign also offers information and support to those affected by the disease.
During the month, people are encouraged to wear a pink ribbon to signify their support for breast cancer awareness and funding.
Cancer in general
By 2020, it is estimated that about 70 per cent of new cancer cases, including breast cancer, would occur in low income countries which are least prepared to deal with it. Deaths from cancer is said to be more than AIDS, TB and Malaria combined and imposes an increasingly important social and financial burden on families and countries in general.
Breast Cancer Statistics
In every 68 seconds, somewhere around the world a woman dies from breast cancer. Worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. It comprises 22.9 per cent of invasive cancers in women and 16 per cent of all female cancers.
In 2008, breast cancer caused 458,503 deaths worldwide and the number of cases has significantly increased since the 1970s, a phenomenon partly attributed to modern lifestyles.
In 2010, over 1,300,000 women died from breast cancer globally, and 2,062 women were diagnosed with the disease. Ghana is ranked 10th in burden of breast cancer in Africa.
Risk Factors
Health experts maintain that there was no sure way to prevent breast cancer but there were things that all women could do to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Breast cancer is strongly related to age, with only five per cent of all breast cancers occurring in women under 40 years old.
A lot of factors account for ones risk factor in relation to breast cancer and according to the President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, a woman can reduce her risk factor of getting breast cancer if she gives birth before age 40.
According to him, although giving birth before 40 years reduces one’s risk factor, there are also other factors which put women at risk, including being female, ageing, race, early menstruation, late menopause, personal history of breast cancer, younger women exposed to radiation, post-menopausal obesity, alcohol intake and family history of breast cancer (especially first degree relative such as mother or sister who developed cancer before menopause).
Cancer prevention, he said, related to any action taken to lower the chance of getting cancer. By preventing cancer, the number of new cases of cancer in a group or population was lowered, he added, saying that hopefully, this would lower the number of deaths caused by cancer. Some risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many he says, cannot.
Global Campaign
Eighty countries, including Ghana, as part of creating awareness on breast cancer, celebrate the Global Marathon to Stop Women Cancers (GLOBEATHON). The Breast Care International (BCI) and the Peace and Love Hospitals celebrate GLOBEATHON annually.
The President of Breast Care International and Director of Peace and Love Hospitals, Dr (Mrs) Beatrice Wiafe Addai, at the celebration this year said, over two million people die annually worldwide from breast cancer and its related diseases due to lack of early detection and treatment.
According to her, the only solution for fighting breast cancer, is regular medical checkup for action and, therefore, stressed the need for women, especially, to ensure regular breast screening against cancer.
She said breast cancer was curable, and, therefore, called on women to report such diseases early to health centres for medical treatment and called for public sensitisation and support from stakeholders to fight the disease.
At the sidelines of the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York recently, First Lady Mrs Lordina Mahama joined a discussion on breast cancer where she stated that breast cancer could be cured if detected early.
Mrs Mahama’s Lordina Foundation campaigns to promote screening, early detection and treatment of breast cancer, erase stigma and to comply with treatment arrangements among women.
Mrs Mahama, who was also in Maputo recently, called on African leaders to make breast, cervical and prostrate cancers a national priority.
She drew the international community’s attention to the disease, which was silently killing many women in Ghana and the world at large.
By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho/Daily Graphic/Ghana
Writer’s email: [email protected]