Offering professional Oncology services to people from all walks of life.

Cancer is a disease of the building blocks of our body organs and tissues – cells, which normally divide, grow and multiply in an orderly and controlled manner and as the body needs them. For some reasons, the cells are damaged, copied twice or lost, such that they no longer understand the instruction to die and they don’t die as they should, they continue to grow and multiply uncontrollably, resultantly, a mass of tissue commonly known as growth or tumour is formed. Breast cancer distinctively occurs in breast tissues, most commonly in the inner lining of the milk ducts or lobules that supply the ducts with milk

The disease, breast cancer is a complex one with a variety of different causes, some unknown. Many aspects of our lives swing our risk in one direction or another, some of them may be controlled while others are out of our hands. The causes include, but not limited to, age, smoking habits, drinking habits, hormonal imbalance, exposure to radiotherapy, diets,, familial histories, and environmental factors, just to mention a few.

Breast cancer is undeniably the second common cancer amongst women only after cervical cancer and the cause of increased mortality rate in our country in women. It is however alarming that our health literacy in regard to the disease across the entire population is still low. While cancer in general has been mystified and demonised, we seek to create a better understanding, fill the knowledge gaps with correct information that, it is like any other non communicable condition whose prognosis entirely depends on the stage and type of cancer diagnosed. There is hope that early detection and early treatment consequently improves the prognosis, and raising awareness is fundamentally key and a critical way to go.

It is high time we set our priority right as a nation if we are to win the battle. There is certainly need for concerted efforts across the board and fight for cancer and cancers in general. We are all affected by this cancer one way or the other, but we need to take up arms and fight collectively and that start by you and I.

While it is common fact that the success or failure of any government is measured by the well-being of its citizens (Franklin Delano Rosevelt- 2000), it is still the responsibility of you and I to take charge of our health, here is a few things you can do to help reduce the risk for cancer, and breast cancer included:

Be physically active, evidence is growing that regular physical activity help reduce the risk for cancer.

Eat a healthy diet, study link diet rich in vegetables, fruits, poultry, fish, and low fat dairy products to a reduced breast cancer risk or cancer in general. A healthy diet helps you stay at a healthy weight. If you drink alcohol, limit how much you drink and above all, do a self breast examination so often or visit your family doctor if you suspect a lump and you will be assisted accordingly.

Help spread this news to everyone this month as we seek to raise awareness of breast cancer. We as Harare oncology centre joined the rest of the international world to help raise awareness for breast cancer as we held our colourful pink ribbon day on the 14th of October 2016 under the theme ‘early detection and early treatment saves lives’