Gender
Men urged to allow women to check breast cancer signs
Mr Emmanuel Turkson Azumah, a breast cancer survivor, has advised that just as women were encouraged to allow men to examine their breasts for signs of cancer, men should also be proactive in allowing women to check theirs.
He called on both men and women to help each other detect breast cancer early.
Speaking in an interview with The Spectator, he emphasised the importance of mutual breast examinations between partners to enable early detection, noting that the practice could benefit both men and women.
“As women are urged to allow men to suck their breast and examine them, women should do same for men as breast cancer can affect both sexes,” he said.
Azumah’s own experience with breast cancer began when he started feeling pains in his right breast, something he initially dismissed, believing the disease only affected women.
He said his wife, however, encouraged him to seek medical attention, and after a series of tests, he was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer.
He revealed that he quickly began chemotherapy, completing it in December 2023, followed by 25 days of radiotherapy.
“Today, I am healthy, thanks to the early intervention initiated by my wife,” he said.
Reflecting on his experience, Azumah stressed how traumatic it was to learn that he, as a man, had breast cancer.
He encouraged women to allow their male partners to help examine them for signs of breast cancer and vice versa.
He believed that the mutual practice could lead to early detection and, consequently, timely treatment.
Azumah urged people to offer emotional and financial support to breast cancer patients, as the cost of treatment can be prohibitive.
Furthermore, he appealed to the government to equip hospitals in the Eastern Region with mammogram machines, which are essential for early detection but currently lacking in the region.
The Clinical Director of the Eastern Regional Hospital, Dr Foster Amponsah, echoed Azumah’s concerns, noting that breast cancer cases were on the rise in the region.
He revealed that the hospital recorded more than five breast cancer-related deaths each month, with many patients seeking treatment at advanced stages of the disease.
This trend, he said, was particularly alarming among young women and emphasized that early detection was crucial.
He urged individuals to regularly check for symptoms and seek medical advice as soon as any abnormalities were detected.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Arko Akoto-Ampaw, also highlighted the severity of the issue, stating that breast cancer has become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the region.
He stressed the importance of continued public awareness and education on breast cancer, noting that it affected both men and women.
“In an effort to make early detection more accessible, the hospital has reduced the cost of ultrasound scans from GH¢100 to GH¢20, allowing more people, especially those with financial constraints, to afford screening,” he said.
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua
Gender
WiSA launched to accelerate growth, close gender inequality gap
Women in Sustainability Africa (WiSA) has been launched in Accra with an aim to accelerate growth and the closure of gender inequality gap.
Speaking at the launch, the Convenor for WiSA, Nana Yaa Serwaa Sarpong, said that, “Gender inequality gap cannot be closed by women alone, calling for catalytic efforts to cause a revolution in order to achieve such goal.”
Madam Sarpong also stated that, “this is the new beginning of gender empowerment and the new wave which must be propagated across Africa without any antagonism.”
She said the key to bridging gender inequality gap is two sided, saying that, “First is men standing side by side with women and secondly, the recognition of women as a source of labour with positive return on every investment that is made to build capacity in women.”
Additionally, Madam Sarpong underlined that the organisation will work with men, ‘he or she’ champions, CSOs, Corporate Institutions, local and International Development Organisations to bring all women and women groups together (especially those at the grassroots level) to foster the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Africa.
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, said recognising the proportionate impact of climate change on women, the Ministry has developed a roadmap to strengthen gender responsiveness of social protection programmes.
According to her, this initiative aims to ensure that their interventions were inclusive, equitable and effective in building resilience among vulnerable populations.
The campaign will be celebrated as part of the activities of May 1, and throughout the month of May every year.
She disclosed that in partnership with WiSA and other stakeholders.
Dr Lartey again indicated that he Ministry will use the campaign to recognise women nationally and continentally as sources of labour and agents of sustainability.
Furthermore, the Minister stated that the campaign would be rolled out in schools, media platforms and community spaces.
The Minister of State in charge of Climate Change and Sustainability, Issifu Seidu, on his part said, “African women have always been the backbone of our communities, playing key roles in agriculture, healthcare, education, and the informal economy.
However, he noted that their contributions remain undervalued and underappreciated in many spheres of society.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
Gender
Plan International Ghana’s intervention enhances girls’ education
Plan International Ghana’s adolescent girls’ intervention in some communities in northern Ghana has helped retain adolescent girls in school and enhance their education to enable them to achieve their life aspirations.
These interventions included the adolescent Drop-in Centres, school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, improved access to and use of sanitary pads and changing rooms for girls.
The Drop-in Centres had been equipped with indoor and outdoor games, including ludu, oware, and footballs and a television set, to keep the girls lively while going through mentorship and sensitisation at the Centre.
That became known during a field visit to the Mimima, Sagadugu and Guabuliga communities in the North East Region, where those interventions were being implemented to ascertain the impact of the projects on the people.
The visit was to climax a three-day capacity-building workshop for some journalists and media practitioners in northern Ghana organised by Plan International Ghana, a development and humanitarian Non-governmental Organisation (NGO).
At the Mimima community, where a Drop-in Centre had been constructed, some adolescent girls told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the Centre was empowering them to take responsibility for their bodies.
Agnes, 14 (not her real name), said they were receiving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) education, including menstrual hygiene management, which had enhanced their dignity.
She noted that had enabled them stay in school during their menstrual periods, ensuring their effective participation in academic activities and improving their educational performances.
Ms Hamdya Baaba, the facilitator at the Drop-in Centre at Mimima, said she had been teaching the girls good menstrual hygiene management and SRHR to prevent them from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Some parents in the community also praised the interventions as they saved their girl children from using rags to manage their menstruation.
“Some of us used to fold rags for our girl children during their menstrual periods, and because of that, they sometimes stained themselves with blood. But when Plan International Ghana came to this community, it taught the girls how to use sanitary pads.”
The NGO also gave the girls some reusable sanitary pads that they can always wash and use, and because of that, the girls are always in school even during their menstrual periods,” Madam Abena Miyanga, a parent, stated.
The Mimima community is also benefiting from the Educational Outcome Fund (EOF) project, where out-of-school children from the age of eight to 16 receive a nine-month cycle of literacy and numeracy training through Complementary Basic Education (CBE) and were integrated into the mainstream education.
Madam Miyanga told the GNA that her child, who dropped out of school, had returned and was currently in basic five through the EOF’s CBE programme.
Eleven-year-old Magdalene, a participant of the project and currently in basic six, expressed gratitude to Plan International Ghana for the intervention, as it had given her the opportunity to acquire formal education.
The Integrated Package for Sustainable Development (IPADEV) project constructed a WASH facility and girls’ changing rooms at the Sagadugu R/C Basic School to ensure safe access to WASH services and a place for menstrual hygiene management while in school. —GNA
