African women delegates lead discussions on stopping cancers

The 10th ‘Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer In Africa’ has opened in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia drawing more than one thousand participants across the continent.

First Lady Lordina Mahama and her colleague First Ladies from Kenya, Chad, Uganda and the host country Ethiopia are attending the conference. 

First Lady Lordina Mahama, who is also the President of the Organisation of African First Ladies, OAFLA and a strong  advocate of stopping cervical and breast cancer will be sharing Ghana's success stories so far in respect to breast and cervical cancer prevention, advocacy and treatment and the way forward.

Speaking at the opening of the conference the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn asked African First Ladies to intensify their campaigns towards cervical, breast and prostate cancer in their respective home countries with focus on early detection and treatment.  

Ghana's First Lady Lordina Mahama has always been a strong advocate in the fight against breast, cervical and prostate cancer of which she has extended the campaign to about seven regions in the country.

This she has done by organising periodic screening and medical outreach programmes which has benefitted more than three thousand people in Ghana.

She last week intensified this education by reaching a larger group in the Volta Region. One can therefore say that Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam's Desalegn's call for intensification of this campaign towards cervical, breast and prostate cancer is apt looking at the number of people covered through her screening and medical outreach exercise.

At the conference here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia speaker upon speaker described cancers of all types as serious causing more than 8 million deaths annually than deaths caused by HIV and AIDS and Malaria.

This has become so because people do not attach any seriousness to its early detection and treatment.

It is estimated that there will be 50 percent increase in cancer patients in Africa by 2030.These alarming figures therefore informs the decision of African First Ladies to do more in the fight especially against cervical, breast and prostate cancer. 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said even as African First Ladies intensify awareness, they should also drum home early detection as that is one of the cost effective way of reducing the disease in the long term.

Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Roman Tesfaye Abneh spoke strongly about the cost of cancer drugs.

She said cancer drugs are very expensive which the average person with low income cannot afford, a situation which is worrying.

The Opening of the 10th Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa Conference also saw the recognition of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia as Africa's Goodwill Ambassador for Women and Children’s Health for 2016-2017.

GBC