2023 Cervical Cancer awareness campaign launched
The 2023 Cervical Cancer Awareness campaign to increase women’s understanding of the importance of regular cervical screening has been launched in Accra.
The campaign, launched by the Medical Women Association of Ghana (MWAG) in collaboration with Lexta Ghana, the producers of yazz sanity pads, also seeks to empower women on health information on how to prevent the disease.
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At the launch in the Ga West Municipal Hospital in Amansaman, the President of the MWAG, Dr Mary Amoakoh-Coleman, called on the women to avail themselves to be screened for the disease for early detection and prevention.
She said cervical cancer was preventable and manageable, if detected early through regular screening, adding that a lot of Ghanaian women were visiting health facilities at a very late stage, resulting in their death.
According to her, over 70 per cent of women, who were diagnosed in Ghana, ended up dying due to the late stage of diagnoses, stating that cervical cancer when found early could be treated.
“Our message this year to the women is that they should understand the importance of knowing their status.
Get screened now so that you can receive care early.
That is our message,” she said.
She said the MWAG had championed the prevention through screening services since 2015 and also engaged in an elaborate campaign to bring awareness and support to women across the country concerning the disease.
Dr Amoakoh-Coleman appealed to government and stakeholders in the health sector to formulate policies that would make vaccines available and screening for the disease very accessible and affordable for scheme holders, to enable more women to screen for the disease.
The Medical Superintendent of the Ga West Municipal Hospital, Dr Eric Sarpong-Ntiamoah, said cervical cancer was the second leading cause of death among women in the country apart from breast cancer.
He observed that lack of education was a major problem surrounding the spread of the disease, adding that a lot of women did not know that there were screening programmes in some facilities in the country.
He said cancer, as a whole, did not come all of a sudden, but started developing with changes in the cells that gradually grew to become cancer.
The Medical Superintendent said cervical cancer, when detected early at the pre malignant stage, became easy to manage or treat to prolong life.
He said the Ga West Hospital had the screening and treatment facilities to handle the disease at the pre-malignant stage and called on the women to visit the facility for screening.
The Head of Sales and Marketing at Lexta Ghana Limited, Ernest Okine Tawiah, pledged his company’s continued support for the MWAG to educate Ghanaian women on the dangers of cervical cancer.