The Danquah Institute Chatroom has organised a symposium in Accra themed, “Surviving Breast Cancer through Awareness, Care and Management” to educate the public on Breast Cancer.

Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko in her opening remarks underscored the need to create more platforms to draw the world’s attention to the seriousness of Breast Cancer and encourage people to show maximum support to the victims.

She reaffirmed the Institute’s commitment to continue public health awareness programmes to support the national agenda.

The symposium brought together people from all walks of life with majority of them being women. The dialogue session was moderated by Dr. Ernestina Dankyi (Lecturer, University of Ghana).

The panelists were Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye (Medical Doctor and Board Member, NHIA), Dr. Florence Dedey (Lecturer UGMS and Surgeon KBTH), Dr. Nelson Agboadoh (Specialist Surgeon, KBTH) and Mrs. Susan Malik (Founder, Maud Lokko Foundation and Breast Cancer survivor).

They dissected pertinent issues on Breast Cancer treatment, early signs, government policy position as well as a survivor’s story.

They emphasised the need for early detection through screening to ensure a decline in Ghana’s Breast Cancer death rate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has rated Breast Cancer as the second most common cancer disease in the world and the most common in women worldwide, accounting for 25% of all cases of female cancers.

In 2020, the WHO said there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer out of which 700,000 deaths were recorded.