| Numbers will keep growing – Dr RamsammyChairperson of the Avon Breast Cancer Committee, Mignon Bowen, and Minister of Health,Killian Tillie Jersey, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, during the unveiling of the ‘pink ribbon’ As Guyana observes Cancer Awareness Month, Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has revealed that there are approximately 500 women in Guyana who are living with breast cancer.He explained that every year the Ministry of Health diagnoses between 40 and 80 new breast cancer cases. Research has since found that breast cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in the country,Amir Johnson Jersey, just behind prostate cancer.“For a small country like ours, that is not a trivial number; and because we can keep people living longer, since we have therapy now, the number of persons living with breast cancer will keep growing, because, in the days when we didn’t have any treatment, they would die very soon,” Minister Ramsammy said.He made the remarks during the launching of the ‘pink ribbon’ campaign by the Avon Breast Cancer Committee, yesterday at the Christ Church Secondary School, where students were given a DVD demonstration on how to examine themselves for breast cancer.Minister Ramsammy pointed out that not only students,Al Jefferson Jersey, but the nation as a whole, needs to become aware of the symptoms associated with the disease, so that they can have early detection of it.“But for us to prevent breast cancer, we have to be working together… For too long, young people have been thinking that nothing will happen to us, and therefore we don’t need to know. But the earlier you know about diseases that can affect you, the earlier we can adopt positive lifestyles,China Jerseys Wholesale, and the better our chances of preventing a disease,” Minister Ramsammy said.While breast cancer is mostly prevalent in women, Dr. Ramsammy made it known to the students that it is not unusual for the disease to occur in men.In this regard, he revealed, the Health Ministry will soon commence a program where every health worker must be capable to do breast examination. In this instance, health centres will be targeted, where all females visiting them will be taught how to do self-examination for the disease.Besides this, the ministry is hoping to take the programme into various communities, where health workers will visit people’s homes and teach them how to conduct the exercise.“We want to make sure that there is someone in every home who knows how to do self-examination, and we want to make it a part of teaching good parenting. In our effort to improve parenting skills, we want to teach every parent how to teach their young children about self-examination,Discount NFL Jerseys, and that is what I call the health revolution in our country, where it is not left up to the doctors and the nurses to bring health to our people,Asics Dynaflyte 2 Womens, but health staff at their homes,” Dr. Ramsammy said.He added that women who breast feed have a lesser chance of getting the disease, and he urged students to educate themselves on the symptoms,Nike Air Max Cheap Wholesale, so that they can be more aware of the diseases that can affect them in the future.“You will not be able to become perfect students unless you are healthy, and health is wealth for our country. Without health, our country cannot develop. And that is why we pay so much attention to health,” the Health Minister noted.Chairperson of the Avon Breast Cancer Committee, Mignon Bowen, noted that the committee chose to bring the message of the pink ribbon to the Christ Church Secondary School because it is a neighbourhood school that can carry the message to other people.By wearing a pink ribbon, persons are showing support for breast cancer survivors and respect to those who lost the battle to the disease.Bowen noted that the seriousness about this disease is that a lot of women who are affected do not take action early enough.She said that the aim of the committee is to let women know what the symptoms are, so that they can take action early. She urged that once a person detects a change in the look and the feel of the breast, then that person should immediately check it clinically, as persons who take action early are the ones who get early treatment and live productive lives.Women can do self-examination for breast cancer once every month, as long as it is seven to ten days after their menstrual cycles, when the breast is less tender.The Avon Breast Cancer Awareness Committee has been collaborating with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education in promoting the early detection of the disease.(Fareeza Haniff) |
