Aidoo Centre Theatre Troupe Edutains Adabraka Market Women on Sanitation, Security and Public Health

By Vanessa Okialey Vanderpuye @kialey_poetry

As part of the AUCC@20 celebrations, African University College of Communicatios management, faculty, staff and students joined traders for a cleanup exercise at Adabraka Market, Accra. The event saw AUCC President Prof. Abeku Blankson, AUCC Registrar Dr. Angela Owusu Ansah, AUCC SRC President Ernest Kpebu and a host of others sweeping, dredging and draining gutters, and rearranging stocks at the busy market.

Also present was the Queen mother of Adabraka, Naa Korkor Aadzieoyi I.

Highlight of the morning last Friday was a live Theatre-for-Development performance by the school’s Ama Ata Aidoo Centre Theatre Troupe of a play to sensitize market women on sanitation, security and public health. The AAACT Troupe was led by members of the Development Communication Student Association (DevComSA) of AUCC under the direction of AUCC Board member Dr. Akosua Abdallah who volunteered her time and exoertise.

Using props at the market, the interactive comedy centered on a typical market scene, heavy on its public health content. In the end, the audience was reminded of the coronavirus and nose masks and social distancing.

After the performance, DevComSA members announced that they had scheduled – in consultation with the market executives – a free breast screening exercise at the Adabraka Market office month ending.

Mrs. Patricia Yeboah, head of Public Health for Korle Klottey Municipality, stepped in then to talk on breast cancer awareness. According to the nurse, both men and women are at a risk of developing breast cancer with women in the majority. She said before 2009 breast cancer was believed to be a disease only present in women who have given birth. However further studies have shown that it is possible to develop breast cancer even at the age of 18.

Breast cancer, she said, can also be inherited if a family member has been diagnosed with breast cancer before.

Mrs. Patricia Yeboah noted that placing foreign objects such as metals in bras, consuming fatty foods, and sedentary living may also be causes of breast cancer.

She urged the audience to have their breasts checked after every period for females to ensure early detection.

“Breast screening should be done at least once every three months, but as October is a month of free breast screening, please take advantage and get a screening,” she urged.

The market women expressed their gratitude to students, staff and faculty of AUCC for the performance which they said they enjoyed.