NGO to organize prostate cancer awareness program on father’s day

Father’s day is here again and the Men’s Health Foundation, the country’s biggest men’s charity is collaborating with some Celebrities in the country, Job Daddy Consult and ATV to use the occasion to launch an Awareness creation ‘Do it 4 Dad’ campaign to fight the deadly disease, prostate cancer.

Black men are prone to Prostate cancer with about 60percent chance of getting the disease and they have the most aggressive form of the disease when diagnosed.

The disease is affecting more Ghanaian men yet little or no awareness is created to educate citizens.

In 2015, the Men’s Health Foundation Ghana sent a proposal to the president of the republic of Ghana, His Excellency, John Dramani Mahama, to consider converting father’s day as a National Prostate Cancer Awareness day to help raise awareness on the disease to empower men to take charge of their health.

This the men’s charity believe will pave the way for men’s health policy in the country as policymakers, churches, and corporate institutions would see the need to outline policies for men in the country.

The Men’s Health foundation is calling on the Good People of Ghana to pay attention to this health issue enslaving productive and energetic men.
We are strongly advocating for political parties to make men’s health part of their manifesto to demonstrate their commitment.

The aim of the Do it 4 Dad Prostate Cancer campaign is to create a platform for Ghana as a wake-up call to appreciate the need to join hand in the fight and that ignoring prostate cancer is cancerous.
Data available reveals that only 2 percent of Ghanaian men could identify where the prostate gland is located, only 1 percent know what the prostate does.

Others also point to their shoulder or knee when asked where their prostate gland is. This is a challenge and needs a sustained education to stop a disease that kills about 800 men a year in Ghana, a figure that estimated to soar to 8,000 by 2026 and is set to be the most common cancer among men in the world by 2030.

It’s time to stage an intervention, no matter how uncomfortable the subject matter. Prostate cancer is the most controversial subject in the medical world today and affecting black men and there is, therefore, the need for physicians in the black communities to wake up, provide solutions, research and provide better services for patients.

We’re urging the nation Ghana to join the fight against prostate cancer by pressing the government to come out with a policy for men’s health and help in recognition of the father’s day as national prostate cancer day to help in awareness raising.

We know that some men will do anything to avoid awkward subjects, but we also know that prostate cancer cannot be ignored. By shining a light on this serious issue with a bit of gentle humor, we hope more men will be aware of their own risk and join us in the fight to stop prostate cancer being a killer.

The Men’s Health Foundation Ghana believes that Ghanaian men deserve better treatment for prostate cancer as we lead change and campaign for better services for men in Ghana.