People living with breast cancer and related diseases have appealed to policy makers to make prevention and care more accessible to cancer patients in the country to make their lives more comfortable.
The group, which has around 900 members from across the country, believes the government can do more to help provide relief for breast cancer survivors.
World Cancer Day
The Executive Organizer of the association, Joyce Aidoo, made the appeal on behalf of the group when they joined Breast Care International (BCI), for this year’s World Cancer Day celebration held at the Straight Way Chapel in Kumasi last Sunday.
Between 2022 and 2024, the focus of the World Cancer Day celebration is to help ‘Close the Cancer Gap’.
This year marks the third and final year of the campaign.
This year’s theme is “Together, we challenge those in power”.
It includes the global demand for leaders to prioritize and invest in cancer prevention and care and to do more to achieve a just and cancer-free world.
Other speakers including Mrs. Beatrice Wiafe-Addai, BCI president and Ejisuhemaa, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, on behalf of the survivors, reiterated the urgency for government to act now and help save precious lives.
The event, presided over by Simon Osei Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, saw the inauguration of a Breast Cancer Survivors Association choral group.
UICC
According to Dr. Wiafe-Addai, the celebration was launched by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), which aims to mobilize urgent action to improve cancer risk awareness, as well as prevention, treatment and care services for all people, no matter who they were or where they lived.
“It all starts with training and arming our healthcare professionals with the skills, knowledge and tools they need to care for our people,” he stressed.
Mr. Osei Mensah, on his part, advocated the need for everyone to register with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), to fully benefit from the scheme.
More importantly, he urged the general public to always seek timely medication, which he described as the safest way to curb these non-communicable diseases.