The media had been urged to exercise extreme caution in the promotion of herbal drugs, said to have the potency to cure cancers.

Dr (Mrs) Beatrice Wiafe Addai, Chief Executive Officer of Breast Care International (BCI), said spurious claims by some herbal medicine practitioners and spiritualists of cure for cancers is hampering efforts at managing and treating those diseases.

It has led to a situation where patients often resort to herbal treatment, reporting to the hospitals very late – at the terminal stage.

This, she said is fueling the high rate of cancer fatalities, especially breast cancer, among Ghanaian women.

Dr (Mrs) Wiafe Addai said journalists could do the nation a lot of good by being more careful in the way they handle information on the treatment of cancers on their platforms.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, she was emphatic that breast cancer could be treated only through surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.

There are myths and misconceptions about the disease, preventing many women from seeking early diagnosis and treatment and the expectation is that the media would help by way of aggressive awareness creation.

It should educate women to undertake regular breast self examination and encourage them to report to the facilities with any abnormality in their breast.

Dr (Mrs) Wiafe Addai mentioned lack of awareness, inadequate treatment, cost, distance, lack of counseling and support, as barriers that must be overcome to reduce the mortality rate.

She said it is deeply disturbing, the increasing rate at which women, many of them at their productive ages are losing their lives to cancers.

Dr Wiafe Addai noted that about 55 per cent of breast cancer patients were women below the age of 50 years - the productive age.

She asked the media to do more to assist to change the trend by empowering women to take control of their health.

The BCI would continue to work closely with the media to educate the public on breast cancer to help bring it down.