News
End breast cancer stigmatisation Mrs Sumani
Mrs Ramatu Sumani
A cancer advocate, Mrs Ramatu Sumani has urged women to champion the course to end stigmatisation against breast cancer patients and survivors.
According to her, misconceptions surrounding the disease was a major contributory factor to the reason most survivors and sufferers of the disease continued to live in fear.
Mrs Sumani made the assertion in an interview with The Spectator on Monday.
She said it was important for women to come out in their numbers to speak to issues confronting them if they wanted to make the country and world safer and better for themselves and young girls.
She said women’s active participation in the fight against breast cancer stigma could help raise awareness about the importance of early detection methods such as regular self-examinations and mammograms, stressing that when more women are knowledgeable about the risks and symptoms of breast cancer, lives can be saved through early diagnosis and treatment.
She said cancer among Ghanaian women, especially breast cancer should be of concern to every woman, considering the high number of women who are diagnosed of the disease in Ghana each year, and the fact that many breast cancer patients need to undergo surgery to remove the affected breast or both breast as part of the treatment.
“The stigmatisation usually arises when people start pointing at women who have lost their breasts to cancer, to the extent that newly diagnosed ones do not want to even report to any health facility when they notice abnormalities in their breast.”
“This is not what we want as women. We should rather focus on encouraging each other than gossiping about our sisters without breast. This is bad. Let us rise above such acts and render support to each other. If it happens to your sister today, it can happen to you tomorrow so let us all come together to show love to breast cancer fighters and survivors,” she said.
Touching on the rate of breast cancer among women in Ghana, Mrs Sumani, who is also a breast cancer survivor and organiser for the Cancer Support Network Foundation said the World Health Organisation (WHO) – Cancer Country Profile of Ghana 2020, shows that breast cancer is the number one cancer among women in Ghana with an incidence of 20.4 per cent and a relatively high mortality rate.
That, she said, was not encouraging therefore efforts against all obstacles hindering the progress of the fight against the disease in Ghana should be intensified as a matter of urgency, to save lives.
Stigmatisation, she said, can have severe psychological and emotional effects on breast cancer patients and survivors, “however women’s involvement in challenging stigmatisation can contribute to the creation of a supportive environment that uplifts and encourages those affected by the disease,” Mrs Sumani added.
By Raissa Sambou
News
Ghana-Colombia strengthens ties through diplomatic engagement
In an important diplomatic engagement, the Colombian Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Daniel Garces Carabali paid a courtesy call on the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, at his office in Accra to discuss some key areas of collaboration.
The meeting focused on pressing issues, including security, decongestion of Ghana’s prisons, prison reform programmes, training programmes, improving the welfare of prisoners and enhancing disaster management in the country.
The courtesy call underscores the growing bilateral ties between Ghana and Colombia, building on previous engagements, such as the visit of the Colombian Vice President to Ghana in 2023.
The meeting demonstrates the commitment of both nations to fostering cooperation and addressing shared challenges.
News
Ghana to host African Catholic Journalists from August 10
The Union Catholique Africaine de la Presse (UCAP), also known as the African Catholic Union of the Press, in collaboration with the Catholic Association of Media Practitioners-Ghana (CAMP-G), is set to host its prestigious Triennial Congress from August 10 to 17 August, 2025.
The programme would be held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Legon, Accra, Ghana.
This landmark event, the most significant gathering of Catholic journalists in Africa, will bring together media professionals, researchers, and experts in digital technology from across the continent and beyond.
The theme for the Congress is: “Balancing Technological Progress and the Preservation of Human Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
Congress Highlights
The UCAP Congress 2025 will feature discussions and deliberations on critical issues arising from or related to integral human development, particularly within the framework of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Some of the key sub-themes to be addressed include:Corporate Social Responsibility in Managing the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Values, Deploying AI in Eco-friendly Business Start-ups in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges, Technology and the Reprogramming of Social Reality, Distortion of Reality in Social and Digital Media, Ecological Education and Action Against Unsustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources, and Media and the Promotion of the Recommendations of the Synod on Synodality in Africa.
Participants will include media professionals from both ecclesiastical and lay organisations, media researchers and academics, representatives from the Vatican, government agencies, NGOs, civil society, and the digital technology sector.
Objectives of the Congress
The primary goal of this Congress is to strengthen the capacities of media professionals and educate the public on the necessity of preserving human values amid rapid technological progress. Specific objectives include; Training 100 media practitioners in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, with a focus on balancing innovation and human values.
This will include promoting ethics and bioethics in technical research and technological innovations through media.
Advocating for human values such as respect for life, human dignity, charity, solidarity, and human rights and assessing the impact of technological progress to better understand the challenges, risks, and opportunities presented by AI will be part of the objectives.
UCAP is a continental organisation dedicated to promoting communication within the Catholic Church and its partners in Africa. With a mission to foster spiritual growth, collaboration, and responsible journalism, UCAP works to spread the Gospel, uphold human values, and support developmental initiatives across Africa and beyond.
UCAP is an independent, autonomous, non-political, and non-profit organisation comprising African Catholic journalists, communicators, academics, researchers, and institutions in various media fields.
