Rural Agenda Initiative Breast, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and the Asuogyaman District Health Directorate of the Eastern Region on Tuesday organized a free breast screening exercise for women and young girls at Senchi –Ferry.

The exercise formed part of the NGO's outreach programme aimed at educating women on symptoms and signs of breast cancer and the need for affected people to seek early treatment.

Mr Edward Aboagye, Executive Director of Rural Agenda Initiative, who led the team said the target group for the exercise was women in rural communities who often did not have access to health facilities.

He said even though breast cancer could not be completely cured, its early detection and treatment could prolong the lifespan of affected people.

Mr Aboagye said available statistics indicates that breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Sub-Sahara Africa, and globally the most common in women.

He said what was more frightening was the fact that more than 2,000 Ghanaians were diagnosed with cancer every year, and half of the affected women subsequently die from the condition.

Mr Aboagye said his outfit had been much concerned about the alarming rate at which women were dying from breast cancer and other breast- related disease in Ghana, adding that, it was on that basis that the organization was collaborating with the Asuogyaman District Health Management Team to organize the screening exercise for women.

The Asuogyaman District Director of Health Services, Dr Augustine Ankuvie said breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths in Ghana, especially among women, adding that, in spite of the efforts by government and other organizations to check it, the disease continued to take its toll on women.

He said inadequate medical care, late reporting to health facilities by patients and related matters had combined to militate against efforts at arresting the situation.

Dr Ankuvie assured that women who showed symptoms of the disease would be referred to major hospitals for further attention.

He further advised women to make periodic examination of their breasts a priority to ensure that symptoms were detected early for necessary attention.

About 400 women at Senchi-Ferry and surrounding communities went through the screening.