The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) has completed two events under its annual breast cancer awareness campaign, 'Nufu Festival'.
The campaign, now in its second year, seeks to tackle widely held myths surrounding breast cancer, which have led to harmful socio-cultural attitudes towards the disease and the people affected by it. Two events, held at the Madina market in Accra on October 12 and at the University of Ghana on October 19, provided platforms for WACCBIP researchers to interact with women about the disease.
Speaking to women at the University of Ghana, Dr. Lily Paemka, a geneticist and lecturer at WACCBIP, whose initiative it was to start the campaign, said that the main aim was to encourage women to freely talk about the disease and take steps to get screened regularly.
Dr. Lily Paemka interacts with the gathering at University of Ghana[/caption]
“Today, we are going to talk about breasts,” Dr. Paemka said. “We are going to offer free breast exams, and we are going to teach you how to conduct self-exam because at the end of the day the cornerstone to treating breast cancer is early detection.”
She said that women needed to know how to check for lumps in their breasts, which is often a vital step toward early detection. She explained that women in Ghana were more likely to die of breast cancer because they were less likely to report anomalies in their breasts until later stages when the disease had become untreatable.
“In Ghana, women with breast cancer face a higher rate of mortality compared to [those in] the Western world. Here, we have up to 50 percent compared to about 17 percent in the West, and it is unacceptable,” she said. “If more Ghanaian women report lumps in their breasts at the early stages, a lot more lives can be saved.”
Dr. Paemka also spoke about some of the common myths associated with breast cancer and answered questions relating to these myths. She explained that breast cancer is a genetic disease that could be treated once anomalies were detected early. She encouraged the women to get to know their breasts and seek out expert information from qualified health professionals once they detect any anomalies.
The team from WACCBIP, in collaboration with health professionals from the University of Ghana Hospital, demonstrated to women at both events how to conduct breast self-examinations, and spoke to them about the importance of doing them at least monthly. Trained volunteers from the Hope, Faith & Love Group, a not-for-profit organisation that supports breast cancer awareness, assisted the medical team with the screening.
This year's festival provided breast screening to a total of 350 women and 32 men, an increase in the number of individuals screened at the maiden Nufu Festival in 2018.
Besides the sensitisation and medical agenda, the two events featured fun activities, including an aerobics session, a dance competition, fun quizzes, and freebies. There was also a guest appearance by Ghanaian actor, John Dumelo, who supported the campaign as its celebrity ambassador. Mr. Dumelo encouraged women at the Madina market to get tested regularly, emphasizing that creating awareness about the disease was the best way to tackle it.
The 2019 campaign was supported by Aventura Technologies Ghana, Virtual Security Africa, the Sweden Ghana Medical Centre, and Indomie Instant Noodles. The next festival will be held in October next year.
Interaction with market women at the Madina Market[/caption]
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Guest appearance by Ghanaian actor, John Dumelo[/caption]
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Participants engaged in fun activities[/caption]