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Madam Juliet Gyamfi, championing Breast Cancer awareness with passion
Madam Juliet Gyamfi
Madam Juliet Gyamfi, CEO of Breast Love Foundation and Beautiful Beneath has over the years been a strong advocate in fighting breast cancer among Ghanaians with passion.
Her drive and enthusiasm as a Professional Nurse and Prosthetist Specialist to fight this canker is as a result of her joining stakeholders to help people to breast cancer.
The Breast Cancer Advocate has track record of empowering women who have been diagnosed with the disease thus igniting a new hope to survivors of this condition.
Background
Born and raised in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, by her father Mr. Nana Gyamfi Ampofo and her mother, Madam Grace Acheampong, she had her basic education at Lutheran Estate Primary School and proceeded to St. Monica’s Secondary School at Mampong in the Ashanti Region.
As a determined lady, she did her sixth form at Tweneboa Kodua Secondary where she successfully completed and undertook her National Service at Cocoase M/A Primary at Bantama in the Ashanti Region.
Aspired to achieve higher prospects, Madam Juliet proceeded to Valley View University at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, where she bagged a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting.
She later moved to the United States of America and pursued Nursing where she passionately served at most health facilities and rose rising through the ranks to become a Supervisor.
Motivation/ Empowerment
Poised to make an impact in her society and make a change by helping women to discard some unhealthy lifestyle practices that undermine their health, Madam Juliet started a prosthesis shop and the Breast Love Foundation to encourage best practices among women.
Recounting her journey to starting the aforementioned project, Madam Juliet said she had the motivation and inspiration from her daughter abroad.
According to the Breast Cancer Advocate, she had an opportunity to work at a lingerie shop in the United States and had enough space to spend quality time with her daughter.
Narrating the instance, she told The Spectator that, “because of the two jobs, we hardly saw each other, and my daughter one day told me that when she grew up, she would open a boutique and work from 9:00 o’clock in the morning to 5:00 o’clock in the evening to enable her to take care of her children”.
“I have been in Ghana and my daughter’s idea has made me open a Lingerie shop called Beautiful Beneath and here I am now, a strong crusader about breast cancer awareness”, she said
Breast Love Foundation/ Dealing with the menace
The breast cancer awareness champion has been campaigning on the need for early detection of the disease in order to save lives of women who are at risk of getting breast cancer.
Over five years of breast cancer awareness campaign in different regions, Madam Juliet through the Breast Love Foundation has carved a niche for the foundation to serve as a haven for intervention for diagnosed patients and survivors.
The Breast Love Foundation since its inception in 2018 has provided free breast cancer screening and support to diagnosed patients undergo treatment successfully.
According to the selfless woman, breast cancer screening should not only be done in the month of October but must be done throughout the year.
The Prosthetist Specialist said it was important for women to pay attention to their health and eschew all unhealthy lifestyles that posed risk to them
Admonishment
The Nurse/ Prosthetist has encouraged women not to fear when they are being diagnosed with breast cancer because it is treatable and God would always see them through the treatment stages.
“Do not be afraid to lose your breasts when you have to go through surgeries and have them removed because there is more life after the surgery and there are mastectomy brassieres to help fill the lost breasts”, she said .
She stressed that, Ghanaians and patients should stop attaching spiritual meanings to breast cancer but support breast cancer patients throughout their stages of treatment and pray for them to respond to treatment .
The Prosthetist Specialist assured mastectomy patients to always rely on Beautiful Beneath shops for a very quality mastectomy brassieres to make them feel comfortable on their day-to-day endeavours.
Clarion Call
The married woman with three children again called on all to psychologically and spiritually help people diagnosed with breast cancer and charged men to also examine their breasts in detecting changes that needs medical attention.
Madam Juliet, a devout Christian who fellowships with Methodist Church loves listening to choral music and gospel preaching, reading, and watching Netflix .
The English, Twi and intermediate Spanish speaker said that Breast Love Foundation would always support women and jokingly said “I have a brassiere shop so if most women lose their breasts, I will not make any sales, feel confident about your body”.
The waakye, fufu and light soup lover called on women to wear right brassiere sizes since they had an implication on women’s health, so one must wear the correct brassiere size in order to prevent spinal disorders as well.
“Be very attentive to any changes that occur on any part of your body and report it to a Physician as soon as possible in order to facilitate early treatment”, the breast cancer advocate stressed.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
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ASWIM lauds Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang
The Association of Women in the Media, (ASWIM) has congratulated Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang on her historic achievement as Ghana’s first female Vice President.
The association said her trailblazing journey with sterling accomplishments from academia to politics, is undoubtedly, a vivid inspiration to countless women and girls across Ghana and Africa.
This was contained in a statement signed by its president, Mrs Mavis Kitcher, and copied to The Spectator on Tuesday in Accra.
“ASWIM celebrates your remarkable career, marked by numerous firsts, including the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, (UCC), and the first female to hold a professional chair in Ghana, (UCC),” the statement said.
It said the accomplishments of Prof Opoku- Agyemang were clear testament to the brilliance, resilience and resourceful nature of the complete beautiful African woman.
“As she takes on this new role, ASWIM proudly lauds her commitment to education, women’s empowerment, distinguished public service and patriotism and is very confident that her pursuit of excellence, love for humanity, humility, decency, modesty and commitment to the welfare of the vulnerable will characterise Ghana’s political leadership and public service,” the statement added.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
Entertainment
Demolition of Fantasy Dome unfair — Mark Okraku-Mantey
Months after the Fantasy Dome was dismantled to make way for construction at the Ghana International Trade Fair site, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Mark Okraku-Mantey, has expressed concern over the manner the facility was destroyed.
In an interview on Daybreak Hitz with Andy Dosty, Mr Okraku-Mantey criticised the handling of the dome’s dismantling, suggesting that it could have been done without causing damage.
“I don’t think that leadership gave instructions that they should do what happened. The structure was a prefab but I hear the people destroyed it. That one, we cannot defend it. It is unfair to him (owner). Sometimes, you give instructions and people will go and do things that will make you look bad,” he stated.
When asked about any punitive measure against the workers responsible for the destruction, Mr Okraku-Mantey clarified that the Trade Fair does not fall under his ministry.
He said he had previously contacted the owner, Leslie Quaynor, to discuss relocating the dome, and even suggested the National Museum as a potential site, though it was too small.
The demolition of the 20,000-seater Fantasy Dome occurred on March 16, 2024.
According to Dr Agnes Adu, CEO of the Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited, the action was taken after multiple notices were given to Quaynor to vacate the premises for redevelopment, as per their tenancy agreement.
Dr Adu noted that all previous tenants had complied except for the Fantasy Dome.
Quaynor, in an interview with JoyNews, confirmed that his lease had ended, and was in the process of relocating the dome.
He had requested an extension, which was denied, leading him to seek a writ and an injunction from an Accra High Court to halt the demolition.
Despite this, the demolition proceeded, causing significant damage to the structure.
Quaynor described the incident as a major setback, not only for his business but also for the entertainment industry, which relies on venues like the Fantasy Dome.
