Sierra Leone's Breast Cancer Taboo Stalls Diagnoses

Cremelda Parkinson-Pratt, founder of Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation in Sierra Leone, and Dr. Simeon Owizz, chief forensic pathologist manager.

Credit: Anna Limontas-Salisbury

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (WOMENSENEWS)--A local woman recently visited the Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation offices on Percival Street here in the capital city of this West African country to seek help for a growth in her breast. When she got there, she was asked why she didn't seek help sooner.

"This is the result of my last child during breastfeeding; he burped on the breast. And that is why I'm having this. That's a burp," the woman told Cremelda Parkinson-Pratt, founder and executive director of the foundation.

In light of such cases, "the challenges are enormous," said Parkinson-Pratt.

Unlike much of the developed world, women in Sierra Leone have little access to breast cancer screening programs or treatment, let alone an understanding of what is happening to them as their breast becomes deformed through enlargement, shrinkage or a series of lumps when cancer strikes.

Getting the word out about cancer is challenging in a country where the illiteracy rate is extremely high, said Parkinson-Pratt, and where water and other basics can be hard to obtain, even though the conflict in Sierra Leone officially ended in 2002.

"The women in this country are dying. They lack the knowledge. We are doing our best to help them understand that cancer is real and if detected early, it could be treated," said Parkinson-Pratt.

She added, "Cancer does not evoke the same meaning here as it does in much of the developed world." It is only known in the local vernacular as Morpia Boil or Ensar, and sometimes even witchcraft.

Go here to read the rest:
Sierra Leone's Breast Cancer Taboo Stalls Diagnoses