SUCKING OF BREAST DOES NOT PREVENT BREAST CANCER – DR (MRS) WIAFE ADDAI

          Sucking of Breast does not prevent breast Cancer -DR (MRS) Wiafe  Addai

The CEO of the Peace and Love Hospitals, Dr (Mrs) Beatrice Wiafe Addai has debunked rumours that sucking of breast prevents breast cancer. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Ministry of Transport, the Consultant Breast Surgeon denied media reports some two years ago that sucking of breast reduced the risk of breast cancer infection.

Dr. Addai interacting with staff from the ministry

The supported BBC report which was carried by the media Joy Fm in August 2010 revealed that breast sucking by men and women can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer for both sexes. The report further promoted breast sucking.

Dr Wiafe Addai who is also the president of Breast Care International, dismissed the research saying there is no such thing as breast sucking to reduce breast cancer. “The research is a big lie. My outfit followed the story and I personally made calls to my friends outside the country and no one seems to know about it. How can we explain scientifically that sucking of breast avoids breast cancer? It is not true. There is no primary prevention for breast cancer yet”. She yelled.

Answering question on men sucking breast, Dr Wiafe had this to say “they say men do not stop breastfeeding, so they are our last borns. We can’t stop them from doing that and it is obvious that it is a game enjoyed by all. Men when it comes to that stage their mind is not there, so if you keep quiet, they think you are enjoying it, so they will do it more. We should all be careful of how we handle the breast. It is a soft organ and should be handled with care. Women should not suffer at the expense of their husband’s enjoyment”. She advised.

In an exclusive interview with the General telegraph ,  the consultant surgeon disclosed that the country does not owe a Cancer registry, this she blamed on the fact that cancers has not been the countries priority for a long period of time. She added that this defect makes it difficult to account for the number of cancer cases reported yearly. In addition, the inadequacy of mammograms and trained personnel’s in all the regions to help in screening processes makes it difficult to create awareness.

An infected breast

Dr. Wiafe Addai disclosed that the National Health Insurance caters for the medications for breast cancer, but does not cover the screening process; she was however optimistic that per the president’s promise last Saturday at the walk, the screening will be included in the health insurance.

Touching on some risk factors for breast cancer, Dr Wiafe advice women to desist from applying unknown pomade to their breasts, pushing their breasts up and wearing brassieres with rings in them, adding that they can be worn once in a while, but not always. She further enumerated that the use of some Agricultural products, like DDT which have been banned the world over  and the impact from the environment are few of the risk factors  for breast cancer, since there is no known cause.

When asked if her aim for embarking on awareness creation for 12 years has been achieved, she disclosed that 12 years is short a time to achieve the aim of awareness creation. “12 years in the life of an organization is a long time but not much. In our part of the world where we have myths and misconceptions surrounding the disease there is the need to do more. Creating awareness helps reduce fear and demystify rumors surrounding the diseases”.

“Five years back, we were not getting survivors, but now we have and they are bold and we still have a lot of work to do. I believe together we can make an impact. We don’t want to see women come to the hospital with breast cancer in the worst form. We could not wait for them to come to the hospital, so we had to do that. She emphasized”.

Dr. Wiafe Addai called for the use of the private public partnership (PPP) among individuals and private institutions to help in creating awareness. According to her, her outfit aside creating awareness has trained 100 nurses for the ministry of health and is hoping to do more. Currently there are over 500 cancer survivors in an association who act as counselors and help in the awareness creation.

One of such survivors Raheemah Quaye who also is Miss Breast Cancer survivor 2012/2013 shared her experience on how her husband abandoned her and her family also stigmatized her thinking she was infected with HIV/AIDS.

Mrs Quaye thanked Dr Wiafe Addai for helping her stay alive and encouraged all women that  one could live  through breast cancer.