�Breast Cancer is preventable,� says Seipone
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday October 21, 2014 17:28
“Breast cancer is the third most common cancer in women in Botswana. It is rare in men but does occur. It is second to cervical cancer as the cause of cancer related deaths in Botswana although breast cancer is curable when diagnosed early,” she said.
Seipone added that in Botswana, more than 80 percent of patients presenting with either locally advanced or metastatic disease were diagnosed with breast cancer. That, she said led to high incidence of mortality and very high cost and expense for the Government.
She decried the fact that most people were aware of breast cancer, many failed to take steps to both prevent and detect it detect on time. She said that unlike in European countries, Batswana were still reluctant to do regular body check ups leading to 80 percent of the patients seeing the doctors when the cancer had spread.
“Even though we feel that we have made a lot of progress but still have a long way to go and need your help in raising breast cancer awareness,” she added.
She said even though men were also affected by breast cancer, it typically affected women mostly. Less than one percent of men developed breast cancer, she said.
Seipone said men said carried a higher mortality than women primarily because awareness among men was less and a man was less likely to assume a lump under the nipple was anything to worry about. This, she said, tended to cause a delays in seeking treatment.
The annual Breast Cancer Campaign aims to increase awareness of the disease. The Ministry of Health in collaboration with Cancer Association of Botswana (CAB) hosted this year’s event, which went by the tag line “Know Your Breast”.