Breast Cancer Slowdown Campaign with Sofonie Dala - Angola. Part 2

Breast Cancer Slowdown Campaign -Angola

YOU DON`T HAVE TO FACE IT ALONE.

WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!

Cheerful greetings! 

Welcome everyone to the second part of our Breast Cancer Slowdown Campaign. The movement intends to "sensitize Angolan women to the importance of early diagnosis in breast cancer prevention"!

The dark side of cancer. In-depth interview - very sentimental

Good evening!

Please introduce yourself!

My name is Lina Comboio. Sofonie, thank you for inviting me on your show to talk about breast cancer. I support this program.

I am happy to participate on the 22nd of October, which marks breast cancer worldwide.

Well, the world was marked on October 19, 2021, and Angola was not left out, so we are here to continue this movement!

Lina, can you tell me how breast cancer affected your family's life?

Yes, I am here to make my contribution.

Was there anyone with this disease in your family?

Yes, cancer entered my family in a very mysterious and very silent way. Cancer affected my mother's health. Cancer took my mother with it.

There are two types of cancer, benign and malignant. Unfortunately my mother had malignant tumor, which had no way of doing surgery other than undergoing chemotherapy procedures.

When was this disease discovered in your mother?

The disease was discovered 2 years ago, and she lived with this disease for 2 years.

How did the family react?

We react very badly. In the beginning we didn't know what it was or the cause of the disease. We couldn't tell if it was cancer, pneumonia or tuberculosis. There were moments of great anguish, we were all afflicted and depressed. It was a very sorry situation.

Was the first treatment she had appropriate for this disease?

It was not an appropriate treatment for cancer because the doctors thought it was tuberculosis. They prescribed lots of medication that only made her situation worse. She went to a sanatorium hospital where tuberculosis was wrongly diagnosed, the doctors gave her lots of pills for her to take but it made her very sick and it didn't improve her health at all.

So we decided to take her to the military hospital to see what's really going on with my mother. In this hospital it was discovered and diagnosed that she had Cancer. She was hospitalized there and after a while she was transferred to oncology hospital of Angola-Maria Pia.

How long did you fight the disease?

We fought for 2 years. Unfortunately she didn't resist.

She passed away? When?

Unfortunately she didn't make it and died this year, 2 months ago.

It is a very big loss.

Yes, it was a very strong loss. Which so far I haven't gotten over it and I don't know when I'll get over it, this is so sad, very sad indeed. Sometimes we lose something but mother's love is very strong, we can't get over it when we lose mother's love. I'm very sad, I don't like to remember this.

Alright Lina, we understand your loss and we are with you in this moment of pain!

Here in Angola and in the world we have many women who were also affected by breast cancer and some do not know that they carry this disease and end up dying without being helped. As someone who has had contact with this disease, you know that cancer exists and is real. What advice would you give to other women:

- Those who also have cancer and do not know about it

- Those who do not have it but should be prevented

- And those who are afraid, to break the silence and ask for help?

Well, I would like to advise women that it is very good to always do the Check-up to see how our health is going. We must always visit the doctor to consult our body.

By providing public health education to improve awareness among women of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and, together with their families, understand the importance of early detection and treatment, more women would consult medical practitioners when breast cancer is first suspected, and before any cancer present is advanced. This is possible even in the absence of mammographic screening that is impractical in many countries at the present time.

Exclusive interview with nurse Gonçalves Maxinde

Watch the video on youtube for full translation. Click on the “Settings” icon, select “Subtitles/CC,” and then click “Auto Translate.”

Good morning, it's pink October, breast cancer month. We invited the nurse Gonsalves Maxinde to make some brief remarks about breast cancer as well as explain how this situation is in Angola.

Good morning, I welcome everyone to this online event. Today we are going to talk about breast cancer.

My name is Gonsalves Baltazar Maxinde, I am a general nurse. I have been working for 4 years in the emergency bank of the Malanjino Health Center.

We know that pink October is the month that stands out the most, and with the greatest coverage the world talks about this topic. This does not mean that in another months we should not talk about breast cancer with such force.

Breast cancer is a public health disease that affects women's breasts. Every woman of legal age should have a culture of self-examination, normally every morning with her hands raised, she should touch her breasts to see if she doesn't have a lump.... [Watch the video on YouTube for full translation. Click on the “Settings” icon, select “Subtitles/CC,” and then click “Auto Translate.”]

Campaign report

The Angolan Cancer Control Institute adopted a strategy to carry out screening for the disease in places of large population agglomeration, which allowed the diagnosis of 958 new cases, of which 232 of breast cancer, 26 of the prostate and 159 of the uterine cervix. In relation to breast cancer, there was a decrease in the number of cases, because in previous years there were generally more than 300 cases registered.

In Angola, the approach to the importance of breast self-examination in preventing cancer of this organ is still quite deficient, many patients seek the services of the local Oncology Center when the disease is at an advanced stage, which has been making it difficult to treat the disease and they end up dying with the cancer, leaving the families destitute."

Unfortunately, in the country there are not so many hospitals and highly qualified doctors to detect the disease in the first aid, as a result they end up making misdiagnoses, which worsens the patient's health even more.

However, this campaign was developed from the perspective of raising awareness and sensitize Angolan women to the importance of early diagnosis in breast cancer prevention".

Our online Breast Cancer Slowdown program is made up of only 4 Hybrid Docuseries based on real stories and was specially developed for this weekend.

We are sorry that some of you were not able to attend the first part of this campaign. We think that you might be interested in and benefit from watching the entire campaign.

In case you missed out, you can still watch the campaign recordings  by clicking to this link: https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2021/10/breast-cancer-slowdown-campaign-with.html

Scope of the problem

In 2020, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685 000 deaths globally. As of the end of 2020, there were 7.8 million women alive who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 5 years, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer. Breast cancer occurs in every country of the world in women at any age after puberty but with increasing rates in later life.  

Who is at risk?

Breast cancer is not a transmissible or infectious disease. There are no known viral or bacterial infections linked to the development of breast cancer.

Approximately half of breast cancers develop in women who have no identifiable breast cancer risk factor other than gender (female) and age (over 40 years). Certain factors increase the risk of breast cancer including increasing age, obesity, harmful use of alcohol, family history of breast cancer, history of radiation exposure, reproductive history (such as age that menstrual periods began and age at first pregnancy), tobacco use and postmenopausal hormone therapy.

Behavioural choices and related interventions that reduce the risk of breast cancer include:

• prolonged breastfeeding;
• regular physical activity;
• weight control;
• avoidance of harmful use of alcohol;
• avoidance of exposure to tobacco smoke;
• avoidance of prolonged use of hormones; and  
• avoidance of excessive radiation exposure.

Unfortunately, even if all of the potentially modifiable risk factors could be controlled, this would only reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by at most 30%.

Female gender is the strongest breast cancer risk factor.  Approximately 0.5-1% of breast cancers occur in men. 

Treatment

Breast cancer treatment can be highly effective, achieving survival probabilities of 90% or higher, particularly when the disease is identified early. Treatment generally consists of surgery and radiation therapy for control of the disease in the breast, lymph nodes and surrounding areas (locoregional control) and systemic therapy (anti-cancer medicines given by mouth or intravenously) to treat and/or reduce the risk of the cancer spreading (metastasis). Anti-cancer medicines include endocrine (hormone) therapy, chemotherapy and in some cases targeted biologic therapy (antibodies).

Donate

There are a number of ways to support those affected by breast cancer. Whether helping the community as a whole or donating in honor of or in memory of a loved one, each donation helps sustain our mission to educate the community and fight to end breast cancer.

Your gift means we can bring hope to cancer patients. Together we are fighting cancer smarter, better and harder than we ever have before. Thank you for your support.