"I think it's also important for those of us at home to also realize the importance of this condition and help create awareness about breast cancer. In my role as a doctor, as a specialist who specializes in cancer surgeries, I see patients on a daily basis whose lives are devastated by this disease condition and knowing that we live in a part of the world where there are multiple health priorities from tuberculosis to malaria to HIV, breast cancer is equally important, if not more important, " he added.
He, however, underscored the importance of the initiative, adding that around the world breast cancer is the number one cancer when it comes to women.
"In the Gambia it is second only to cervical cancer and given that fact that one out of every eight women are affected by breast cancer shows that this is a disease that we should not ignore," he stated.
He also reminded that fact the fact some of these victims are our mothers, wives, sisters and that if they are affected by this breast cancer, then the whole family is affected.
To this end, he acknowledged the role of the Ministry and partners for coming together to see how together to fight this disease as a nation.
Dr. Jaiteh suggested that the best way people can fight breast cancer in the Gambia is to help create awareness because with awareness they will be able to detect it on time and with early detection the chances of survival are very, very high and the outcomes are almost equal to people who've never had breast cancer.
"So in this month, it's not just about commemorating, it's reminding people about breast cancer, it's educating the population, the young mothers, the grandmothers, the sisters, the wives about why is it important to know about breast cancer and what can they do at home to be able to detect breast cancer if it starts appearing?."
