The radiotherapy unit of the Korle-Bu teaching hospital has conducted health screening and awareness creation exercise on cancer in Accra yesterday, senior Radiotherapist of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Chief Executive Officer of SONAT Cancer Foundation, Mr. Nartey Solomon has revealed.
The exercise was organized to mark the 2018 World Cancer Day.
Speaking to Rite FM News Desk, the Radiotherapist has disclosed that, cancer is on the rise worldwide even in countries that have resources for early detection, and Ghana is not an exception in the rise.
Mr. Nartey blamed the late detection to financial constraints of patients which mostly end them up using herbal medicines to seek for cure, and government’s inability to fully support cancer patients not even with National Health Insurance Scheme to cater for their drugs.
Further, he added that cancer can form in any part of the body but the major cancer on the rise includes; breast, prostate, lung, cervical, head and neck cancers.
Early detection, Mr. Nartey advised saves life and it necessary for every human being to visit cancer centers for screening and frequent examination.
February 4 was World Cancer Day. World Cancer Day is an initiative of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). The (UICC) works to unite the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, to promote greater equity, and to integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda.
It is the largest cancer fighting organization, with over 900 member organizations across 155 countries. For the period 2016-2018 the UICC campaigns on cancer is being run under the theme “We can, I can”.
As a member of the Cancer Society of Ghana we run several cancer screening programmes on a yearly basis. We are very much aware of the challenges people face even after being screened and required to take certain steps to protect themselves against cancer.
The Cancer Society of Ghana (CSG) is guided by the priority cancers as spelt out in the National Cancer Control Strategy (2011-2015) which are Breast Cancer , Cervical cancer, Prostate cancer, Head and Neck cancer, Haematopoietic cancers, Gastrointestinal cancers (including liver cancer), and Childhood cancers.
Collaborators of the CSG include other NGOs such as Pledge Pink, Robert Mitchell Memorial Foundation (ROMMEF), and Reach for Recovery, Leukaemia Foundation, and the Breasted One Foundation.
The UICC 2016 World Cancer Day campaign targets these four specific areas: work together for increased impact; mobilize networks to drive progress; improve access to cancer care; and challenge perceptions.
Cancer causes 7 million deaths every year – or 12.5% of the 58 million deaths worldwide – this being more than the combined total deaths from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 15 million cases of cancer annually, 70% of which will occur in developing countries. The GLOBOCAN estimates that 16,600 cases of cancer occur annually in Ghana, yielding an age-standardized rate of 109.5 cases per 100,000 persons (National Cancer Control Strategy 2011-2015).
It is also important to add that developing countries face a daunting task in addressing the growing cancer burden (Kerr et al). Challenges of Cancer Control in developing countries (2011), Lancet. These are clearly issues to continue to ‘chew’ on as we mark this year’s World Cancer Day.
Source: Joyce Bedeley/ritefmonline.org / jbedeley9357@gmail.com
