What should your kid know about breast cancer?
Breast cancer is a disease that has plagued humans for a long time now. It is a disease that can be very deadly if not caught in time. Health Influencers Network is an NGO that advocates for a better health care system and is taking the message of breast cancers to girls at school, starting with Gwarimpa Government School.
It started with menstrual hygiene, checking for breast cancer and detecting it.
But how many school-age girls know about breast cancer. In a pre-exam, most of the students of the school had little or no knowledge about how to take care of themselves when they start to menstruate. Neither did they know what the symptoms of breast cancer is, how to examine themselves for breast cancer and when to examine themselves.
The girls were divided into groups, a doctor assigned to each. In groups, they were taught how to examine themselves for breast lumps.
After the lecture and demonstration, a post examination exercise was conducted to test the knowledge of the girls.
“Working in a teaching hospital during my housemanship year exposed me to challenges many families go through in their bid to access health care,” HIN founder Emmanuel Egbe explained.
“I was exposed to the paucity of information most families had and most times when they came to the hospital, there was little or nothing the doctors could do.”
“Most patients were poor and so hated being ill and being brought to the hospital. Even the system didn’t help much and even the structures put in place to help the patients were not taken advantage of. The ignorance in full display broke my heart and there many times we the doctors had to use our salaries to cater for the care of the patients.”
“Before today, I had not heard of breast cancer sensitization. I have never attended something like this, today would be my first time,” said Glory Felix, an SS2 student.
“Although I have heard of breast cancer before but I did not know the details of it. This sensitization was really educative and enlightening. I am glad I had the privilege to be here because now I can tell people about breast cancer. Now, I can teach my friends and neighbours how to examine themselves.”
Amina Ismaila, an SS1 student, said, “I knew about breast cancer before now. But I didn’t know intricate details about the disease. Now that I know better, I can go back home and enlighten my friends, sisters, parents and even my brothers. I mentioned my brothers because breast cancer can also happen to men. I hope I can make a change in the society by spreading what I learnt here today about breast cancer.
“This sensitization has not only helped me. It has also helped the other girls in that hall and even people that were not here. Hopefully, all the girls present here will tell their friends in other schools about breast cancer and menstrual hygiene.”