Ghana to host symposium on breast cancer (October 2, 2008, Page 58)

THE Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, in conjunction with two international non-governmental organisations — Hope Xchange in Rome and Susan G. Komen for the Cure in the US, will organise a one-day symposium on breast cancer in Accra on October 16, 2008.
In addition, the group will on October 17, 2008, inaugurate a cancer centre it had, together with the Catholic Church in Ghana, put up in Kumasi. The centre will also handle eye surgery.
The Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Professor Paul Kwame Nyame told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the objective of the symposium was to bring together specialists from the US, Italy, Austria and Ghana, to deliberate on how to deal with the disease, which is gradually becoming a major health issue globally.
He said participants in the symposium would include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, women groups and others interested in knowing more about breast cancer.
He said topics to be discussed included the global situation of breast cancer especially the Ghanaian situation, partners in fighting breast cancer, treatment of breast cancer, critical role of education in breast cancer, patients’ perceptive of survival of breast cancer and prevention of breast cancer, if possible.
Professor Nyame said the symposium was likely to benefit a number of Ghanaian health workers who had over the years embarked on a series of work on the disease and cited Professor E.Q. Archampong of the Department of Surgery, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, as one such person.
In one of his write-ups titled, “Changing Patterns of Neoplasia: Cancer of the Breast”, Prof. Archampong said “breast cancer is a highly emotive problem, for this is the condition that has been killing our mothers, sisters and wives and recently in the African context, also our daughters”.
He noted that there was clinical impression of rising incidence in the Ghanaian population in recent years.
Quoting from a survey report, he said a total of 1154 cases of breasts were reviewed showing annual incidence that increased progressively from 25 in 1976 to 82 in 2003, a nearly four fold increase over the 25-year period and on average, a doubling of the incidence every decade.
“There were a few gaps in the data collected, so the incidence could be higher still, some 26 cases were male, an average one to two a year. The youngest patient was 21 years old; from this age the incidence rose sharply reaching a peak in the 40-49 age group. The curve fell off in similar fashion, without a secondary peak in the above 60s,” he pointed out.