Steps Under Way to Address Issues Causing High Breast Cancer Death Rates Among African Women
ACCRA, Ghana – October 16, 2008 – Susan G. Komen for the
Cure® today expanded its mission to Africa, helping to establish the
Ghana Breast Cancer Alliance at an international symposium attended by
leading breast cancer experts from around the world. Ghana First Lady
Theresa Kufuor welcomed participants and praised the partner
organizations for their collaboration and commitment to helping the
women of Ghana.
The symposium was the opening event of an intensive, four-day
mission delegation trip to Ghana, just one of several low- to
middle-income countries Komen for the Cure’s international program will address with the goal of helping to reduce the high rates of breast cancer mortality.
“Practicing culturally sensitive, practical healthcare diplomacy in
Ghana is our first priority,” said Susan G. Komen for the Cure
President and CEO Hala Moddelmog. “By increasing public education and
awareness as well as acceptance of early detection practices, we hope
to reach women at the earliest stage of the disease when treatment is
most successful.”
Susan G. Komen for the Cure CEO and President Hala Moddelmog and Vice
President of Marketing Katrina McGhee visit with residents in advance
of the launch of the Ghana Breast Cancer Alliance in Accra, Ghana.
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Moddelmog is leading the Komen mission
delegation that includes physicians, researchers, advocates, survivors
and celebrities, including actress Gabrielle Union, philanthropist
Malaak Rock, wife of comedian Chris Rock, and breast cancer survivor
and activist Billye Aaron, the wife of baseball great Hank Aaron.
Helping Ghana in building capacity and putting infrastructure in
place to treat breast cancer is the first commitment of Komen in
Africa. This commitment was affirmed at a press conference following
the symposium in Accra where Moddelmog announced the organization’s
largest international grant of $250,000 to help launch the Ghana Breast
Cancer Alliance.
Breast cancer in Ghana: A complex mix of challenges
Symposium attendees from around the world will learn about the complex
mix of issues that currently stand in the way of Ghanaian women
receiving needed breast health and breast cancer care. For instance:
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1. Screening mammography is virtually unheard of and nearly 70
percent of Ghanaian women who eventually report their breast cancer
symptoms are in the advanced stages of the disease, when survival is
doubtful.
2. Widespread and harsh social stigma surrounding breast cancer
leads many Ghanaian women to hide their breast cancer symptoms, to
avoid being shunned or divorced by their husbands and sent back to
their families of origin.
3. Mastectomy alone is usually the only treatment available for
Ghanaian women with breast cancer. Without follow-up treatments
including chemotherapy or radiation, the approach reinforces
widely-held beliefs that if a woman reports her breast cancer, “they
will cut off her breast and she will die anyway.”
4. Read-outs on breast pathology reports typically take from four to six months to complete.
Sensitive, gradual approach needed
Dr. Benjamin O. Anderson, director of the Breast Health Global
Initiative (BHGI), co-founded and co-sponsored by Seattle-based Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Susan G. Komen for the Cure,
called the international symposium and the other delegation activities
planned during the week “good preparation for what lies down the road;
namely, a potential breast cancer tsunami.”
Anderson added that while BHGI, Komen and experts from around the
world are assisting Ghana, Ghanaians will be formulating measures and
carrying them out in ways that are culturally, politically and
economically acceptable. Anderson said the first milestone to reach is
acceptance among the Ghanaian population of the importance of early
breast cancer detection.
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Actress Gabrielle Union visits with residents in advance of the launch of the Ghana Breast Cancer Alliance in Accra, Ghana.
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Moddelmog cited the importance of the Ghana Breast Cancer
Alliance as a driving force that can change the country’s prevailing
attitudes about breast cancer.
“Ghana is poised to make significant improvements, particularly if
it promotes early detection and improves awareness that breast cancer
can be treatable—and curable—if it is caught in the early stages,” she
said. “The Ghana Breast Cancer Alliance offers a consistent opportunity
to effectively advance this goal.”
The International Breast Cancer Symposium was presented by Komen and
co-hosted by the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Ghana
Breast Cancer Alliance, the Breast Health Global Initiative and
HopeXChange. Speakers at the Symposium included Moddelmog, Anderson,
Dr. Beatrice Wiafe Addai, Breast Care International (Ghana), Dr.
Alexandru Eniu, Cancer Institute Ion Chiricuta (Romania), Dr. Riccardo
Masetti, Catholic University of Rome Medical Center (Italy), Dr. Lisa
Newman, University of Michigan (USA), Dr. J Clegg-Lamptey, Korle-Bu
Teaching Hospital (Ghana), Dr. Baffour Awuah, Komfo Anokye Teaching
Hospital (Ghana),
Dedication of the hopeXchange Medical Center
Tomorrow, Ghana President John Kufuor will dedicate the new
state-of-the-art Kumasi-based hopeXchange Medical Center. The Center
will host the first Learning Laboratory of the BHGI that will educate
physicians and public health workers about the importance of early
detection. Funding for the laboratory was provided by the Susan G.
Komen for the Cure Global Promise Fund.
