Mr Clifford Apag-Yarik, the Assemblyman for the Bilinsa Electoral Area in the Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region, has called on the Ghana Health Service and NGOs to make men ambassadors in the fight against breast cancer. ‘Men should be made ambassadors in creating breast cancer awareness because, just as women, men also have a feel of the breast, and as a married man, you can tell when there are some changes in the breast, it would prompt you to alert your partner to go for a checkup, he said. He said that would not only help to detect breast abnormalities in good time and ensure successful outcome but would help scale up the rate of awareness of breast cancer and reduce the number of deaths recorded through breast cancer every year in the country. Mr Apag-Yarik noted that, apart from the health implications on the part of the woman as a victim, reproduction may also be hindered, and the fight against breast cancer must not be taken lightly. He made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sideline of a breast cancer sensitisation and screening in Sandema organised by the Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO). The exercise, which was in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, formed part of ADDRO`s Early Childhood Development Programme, dubbed ‘Moments That Matter’ (MTM), which is being implemented across six regions in the country, including the Upper East, Upper West, Western North, Eastern, Northern, and Ashanti. It had funding support from Episcopal Relief and Development in the United States of America (USA). The MTM programme is aimed at building the capacity of caregivers on positive parenting practices so that children can reach their full development potential. The Assemblyman said it was important for men to support their wives and sisters in the battle against breast cancer by encouraging them to go for monthly screening and appealed to health interest organisations to give men a voice by making them ambassadors to scale up breast cancer awareness.
Source: Ghana News Agency
