On 18 October 2023, the Endeavour Mining Women’s Association organised a cancer awareness session at Marie Immaculée College in Ouagadougou. The aim of this awareness-raising event is to give schoolchildren the tools they need to fight breast and cervical cancer.
“Breast cancer affects 99% of women and 1% of men (…). In gynaecology, breast cancer is the most common, followed by cervical and liver cancer”, said Dr Patrick Yameogo, occupational physician, obstetric gynaecologist and awareness-raising facilitator.
To combat cancer, the gynaecologist advised the students to focus on prevention by taking care of their bodies. This means doing sport and avoiding eating too much fat and sugar. Then there’s self-calpation. For this last method of prevention, he explained that it should be done from the age of 20, every month or at the end of the period for those who have regular periods.
In the context of prevention, the Doctor also stressed the importance of screening. “Screening is very important in the fight against cancer. When cancer is detected very early, it can be treated and the person will recover completely”, he insisted. “For cervical cancer screening, virgin girls are not concerned”, Dr Yameogo pointed out.
Finally, the gynaecologist pointed out to the students that a person who has contracted breast or cervical cancer and has been treated and cured can still contract it again. He also pointed out that there is a greater chance of contracting cancer if someone in the family has already contracted it.
“We initiated this activity to raise women’s awareness of cervical cancer and breast cancer,” said Myriame Dahany, President of the Endeavour Mining Women’s Association. She explained that her company had dedicated the month of October to women through awareness-raising sessions and marches. According to the president of the women’s association, awareness-raising sessions were held in previous years, but among Endeavour Mining employees. She noticed that this awareness-raising was not bearing the desired fruit. So she decided to focus the awareness-raising campaign on schoolchildren, who are good relays and the men and women of tomorrow.
Deborah Karfo, representative of the pupils who benefited from the awareness-raising session, explained what she had learnt: “I attended an awareness-raising session on cancer, in particular breast cancer and cervical cancer. Thanks to this programme, I learned about the consequences of cancer and how to prevent it. It was very useful for me because I have family members who have had breast cancer and had their breasts removed“.
The president of the Houndé gold operation women’s association expressed her satisfaction at the response and enthusiasm shown by schoolchildren on this awareness-raising day.
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