Persons with albinism undergoing screening exercise
Over 30 persons with albinism in Accra were yesterday screened for breast cancer as part of this year’s breast cancer awareness month.
The exercise, organized by Engage Now Africa in collaboration with Prescott Medical Centre, and themed, “Creating a Breast Cancer Free Society” sought to advocate the need for women especially persons with albinism to get screened for breast cancer.
“Because of the stigmatization, persons with albinism are not willing to screen for this disease which is worrying. We organized this exercise to be positively discriminatory towards persons with albinism because of their lack of participation.
This exercise creates the opportunity for them to feel comfortable and get screened for the disease” Albinism Programme Coordinator, Engage Now Africa, Andrew Kwame Daklo said.
He further indicated that the assembly of persons with albinism creates the opportunity for them to freely interact with the health practitioners who are familiar with their conditions.
Country Director, of Engage Now Africa, Cecilia Amankwah on his part indicated that breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women hence the free screening exercise for early detection, “we are working tirelessly to ensure that our people are saved from cancer.”
She further stated that the collaboration with the Prescott Medical Centre affords a 50% breast cancer mammogram screening for persons with symptoms of breast cancer.
Team Lead, Prescott Medical Centre, Beatrice Gyampo called on women to periodically screen for breast cancer for early detection. She said the exercises afforded participants the opportunity to learn how to detect cancer, and how to perform self-examination among other medical tips.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke