Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, Ghana's Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, is sounding the alarm on a number on one can afford to ignore: close to 2,000 Ghanaian women are dying from breast cancer every single year.
The minister shared that Ghana records approximately 5,000 new breast cancer cases annually. That means thousands of women are receiving this diagnosis each year, and far too many are not surviving it. The gap between new cases and deaths points to a system where too many women are reaching care too late.
Breast cancer remains one of the most treatable cancers when caught early, which makes these numbers even harder to sit with. Awareness, access, and action are the three things standing between a diagnosis and a life saved. The conversation Dr Lartey is starting at the ministerial level is one that needs to reach every market, every church, every family compound across the country.
If you have not done a self-exam this month, let this be the nudge you needed.
Originally published by AllAfrica.