A Critical Care Nurse at the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital’s breast cancer unit, Joycelyn Yaokumah says the notion that pressing and sucking the breast of women by men will help reduce the risk of contracting breast cancer is false.
According to her, it is rather breastfeeding that would help reduce the risk by 50 percent.
Madam Yaokumah made the clarification at the maiden edition of the outreaches on breast cancer awareness organized by the Meena Breast Cancer Foundation for students of T.I Ahmadiyya Senior High School at Potsin in the Central Region.
The Meena Breast Cancer Foundation was launched on October 6 to carry out aggressive advocacy on breast cancer and also offer support to patients of the disease.
Explaining further, Madam Yaokumah who is also a breast cancer survivor said men only take interest in fondling the breast for pleasure, which does not give the breast the needed impact to help prevent the disease.
She advised the students not to ride at the back of the misleading notion that men sucking their breasts will reduce their risk of contracting the disease.
“Men are only interested in the pleasure which they derive out of holding the breast. They fondle the breast and suck it a little which is not enough to prevent breast cancer. The effective way, however, is breastfeeding for at least one year. Do not give your breast to boys to take advantage of you because of that wrong notion. I would entreat you to get married before getting intimate,” she urged.
Justifying the importance of taking the awareness to the school, madam Yaokumah, indicated that the spate at which women lose their lives to the disease is alarming as adolescents have become susceptible to contracting it.
“In the olden days, persons above 50 and 60 years were prone to contracting the disease but now the situation has changed. A 17-year-old girl is currently being taken to the theatre to undergo surgery to save her from breast cancer at the Korle-Bu teaching hospital. The situation now requires drastic measures to deal with the menace which is why we are here to educate you and offer the necessary support you would need. Do not underestimate the education, take it seriously,” she advised.
The nurse and other colleagues from the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital sensitized the students on the disease after which the students and their teachers were screened.
The Meena Breast Cancer awareness project was born out of the vision of Mrs. Amina Oppong Kwarteng who succumbed to the disease.
Championed by her spouse, the Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation (CCF), Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, the campaign would be carried out nationwide.
By Rudolph Nandi
