Ghana needs ‘1 District 1 Breast Care Centre’ – Otiko begs Akufo-Addo

Former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Madam Otiko Afisa Djaba has appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of social intervention initiatives consider implementing ‘1 District 1 Breast Care Centre’ to save hundreds of women dying from Breast cancer.

She bemoaned the situation where majority of Ghanaian women especially those living in deprived communities cannot have access to such facilities to screen their breast in order to identify early ailments or others.

According to her, since the government is implementing One District One Factory as well as One Village One Dam, there is the need for the government to include Breast Care Centres to help the country reduce the breast cancer disease amongst women drastically.

Madam Afisa Djaba again tasked the government to provide all the health centres with breast cancer screening equipment and train Breast Care officers to ensure quality health care.

The former Minister made this passionate appeal when she joined over 40,000 people in Cape Coast for the walk for the cure, organized by the Breast Care International (BCI) and supported by Delta Airlines.

She called on the public especially women not to feel shy having their breasts checked regularly regular since in her view “early detection is the best protection”.

The walk attracted participation which included; survivors, politicians, clergy, students, teachers, musicians, physically challenged, members of the Ghana Cancer Board, farmers, Non-Governmental Organizations and among others.

The President of the Breast Care International, Dr. (Mrs) Beatrice Wiafe Addai commended the participants especially school children for the walk and stood in heavy rain for the sake of the cure of breast cancer awareness.

She promised her outfit will do everything possible to fight against the disease indicating that Breast Care International is ready to work with churches and schools for education.

“Our children should not die prematurely from breast cancer” Dr. Wiafe Addai observed; appealing to the government to include Breast cancer screening and diagnosis in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

According to her, most breast cancer patients report to the health facilities with advanced cancer cases because of late detection, leading to their deaths and the only solution to this cancer is to make the clinical screening free of charge through NHIS.