The Deputy Minister for Defence, Hon Kofi Amankwa-Manu called on personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces to screen for breast cancer and not wait for the disease to reach its final stage before they visit a health facility.

He said this when he delivered a speech on behalf of the Defence Minister, Hon Dominic Nitiwul at the launch of the Breast Cancer Awareness month in Burma Camp.
October is designated as Breast Cancer Awareness month by the World Health Organization to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms, risk factors and the impact associated with the disease.

According to the Deputy Minister, although breast cancer has no identifiable causes, there are risk factors such as hereditary, gender, late menopause, alcohol, obesity and smoking among others.
Globally, one in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and half of these may lose their lives because of late diagnosis of the disease whilst one in every hundred men are likely to have breast cancer in their lifetime.
Breast cancer can be detected early by regular screening. This, he said, could be done by self-examinations, clinical screening and the use of breast ultrasound scans and mammograms. He added that, this could be done through education and health programmes to equip personnel women with enough information on the disease and encourage them to go for screening and talk to specialists if any red flags are seen. Additionally, he said “when people are well informed, they will know the necessary steps to take in ensuring they are in a good state of health”.