Team-Ghana, Oct. 11, CDA Consult – Let’s all join the breast cancer awareness crusade to save lives, Dr. Justice Baidoo, a Medical Officer at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema, has stated.
He noted that Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed in October, aims to increase public understanding of this difficult condition.
Dr. Baidoo called for an all-hands-on deck approach towards the crusade: “We need the churches, corporate bodies, educational institutions, market women, civil society organisations, and religious and traditional authorities to join the crusade to educate their constituents on breast cancer and also support the numerous breast cancer survivors and provide education.
“Awareness is a year-round issue for those who have been affected by breast cancer. Additionally, there are numerous ways to develop breast cancer,” Dr. Baidoo stated to kick-start a series of activities to mark the Breast Cancer Month commemoration at the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility,” a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office.
The initiative aimed at promoting communication on health-related topics and setting the medium for the propagation of health information to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy.
“Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! is a public health advocacy platform initiated by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.
The GNA Tema Regional Office and the International Maritime Hospital have joined forces to work towards scaling up public education on breast cancer as part of the commemoration of Awareness Month, which is a yearly initiative to increase public understanding of the difficult condition.
Speaking on the topic “Breast Cancer Awareness,” Dr. Baidoo explained that cancer is an abnormal cell growth within the breast when the body continuously develops a high amount of oestrogen in the mussels suitable for getting breast cancer.
The IMaH Medical Officer said breast cancer mostly affects women; however, there are cases of men having breast cancer when they get high oestrogen from the testicle.
He, therefore, encouraged lactating mothers to elapse the two-year breastfeeding period as it reduces the risk of breast cancer.
Dr. Baidoo revealed that from the period when a woman becomes pregnant, menstruation seizes, and within that stage, she’s not prone to the oestrogen hormones that promote breast cancer cell growth.
Additionally, the amount of oestrogen a woman experiences throughout her lifetime decreases when she breastfeeds because of hormonal changes that occur during lactation and cause a woman to delay her menstrual cycle.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager, encouraged media practitioners to up-scale public education on the issues: “Let us use the power of the media to educate to save lives”.
The theme for 2023 is ‘Keeping Her in the Picture,’ a plea to everyone to keep an eye on the well-being of the significant women in their lives.
