The Breast Society of Ghana has reported that 50% of the women, totaling over 4,000, who are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, do not survive the disease.
This concerning information came to light during the society’s 4th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Accra on Friday.
The event was centered around the theme “Improving Breast Diseases Outcomes, the Role of the Breast Society.”
The Acting Programme Manager of the Non-Communicable Disease Control Programme at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Efua Commeh, has emphasized the urgent need for robust public awareness campaigns aimed at dispelling the misconceptions surrounding breast cancer, with the ultimate goal of preserving more lives.
Dr. Commeh stressed the crucial importance of early breast cancer detection, noting that its timely identification can substantially mitigate the disease‘s complications and avert fatalities.
“Unfortunately, we lose a lot of women because they come in stage three and four. This is not acceptable anywhere. If cases were coming in stage one, for instance, treatment is better and the patients themselves will be better. They don’t need to go through expensive chemotherapy and other treatments, which can be very worrying for the patient. All these treatments come with side effects as well.”
“So we keep preaching that early detection saves lives. That is what it means. When we pick you up early enough, we will be able to treat you so that you can continue living your normal life, and we don’t continue having the high deaths from cancers that we have,” Dr Commeh added.
