Dorothy’s Hope Foundation – a non-profit organisation founded by optician Dorothy Amuah – has launched a campaign to curb and create awareness about breast cancer in Ghana and other parts of Africa.
The campaign dubbed “Eye for Cancer” was launched on Monday, June 10, at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
“Eye for Cancer” launch had a gathering of wide scope of health professionals and dignitaries including Dr Josephine Nsaful, Surgeon at the Breast Cancer Unit of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Lailah Crystal Banda of E.I.B. Network, Dr (Mrs) Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director – Technical Co-ordination at Ministry of Health) , musician Vera Hamenoo-Kpeda aka MzVee and Matilda Banfio representing the Department of Gender.
According to Dorothy Amuah, the project will have three focal points; education and creating awareness, development of accessible state of the art cancer screening facilities, and construction of the one Africa cancer treatment centre.
Mrs Amuah who is a mother of two, a professional optician and a stage three breast cancer survivor, said her story inspired her to embark on this campaign to save other women and men suffering from the condition.
She said she was fortunate enough to have been living in the United States where there are several treatment options and facilities equipped with state-of-the-art technology, thus increasing one’s chances of survival.
Ever since her remission, she has been active in various organisations such as The American Cancer Society and The Susan G. Gorman Foundation.
“With my personal experience from the disease and the many miserable stories of breast cancer especially in Africa I could no longer sit back, just being a survivor and a spectator to all that is happening. I feel that my purpose is to give hope, lift others, and fight against cancer, through this Dorothy’s Hope Foundation was born in 2014,” she told the media.
Breast cancer in Ghana and Africa is on the rise – and the good news is, it has a cure, which Dorothy’s Hope Foundation is trying to push.
This year, starting from July, the foundation will perform various breast screening and awareness campaign in parts of Accra, Ho and Lagos, Nigeria.
It will also hold a cancer seminar which will feature specialist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre (USA) and New York-Presbyterian / Columbia University Medical Centre (USA) as well as health professionals from Africa. The purpose of the seminar is to share ideas and brainstorm on how to improve cancer care and prevention of cancer in our continent.
Aside from that, a ‘Ravishing Cancer Awareness Music’ concert with performers from around Africa and global artistes will be held.
She added that her foundation is currently in talks with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), The African Union (AU), The United Nations (UN) and The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support us in this cancer combat across Africa.
