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Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo addressing a high powered delegation on cancer awareness in New York
Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo addressing a high powered delegation on cancer awareness in New York

First Lady to champion construction of cancer centre

The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has pledged to mobilise resources to build a cancer treatment centre in Ghana.

This will be done with support from the Forum of African First Ladies Against Cancers.

The First Lady made the pledge when she accepted a challenge thrown to First Ladies from African countries to build cancer treatment centres to especially take care of cancers among women and children.

The First Lady’s acceptance of the challenge was given a further boost when a real estate agency established by some Ghanaians leaving in the United States of America (USA) and Canada, Lexington Properties, promised to give her land for the construction of the centre in Ghana.

The forum was held on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York on the theme: “Looking forward to a future without cancers: Implementation of access to medicines, diagnostics and treatment”.

The First Lady was commended for her efforts at soliciting funds to build a baby and mother unit at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.

Leading cause of deaths

Breast, cervical and endo-uterus cancers are said to be the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in developing countries, including Ghana.

A worrying factor, however, is the lack of accurate data on the number of people who die from cancers due to the unavailability of dedicated treatment centres.

“Just the mention of the word ‘cancer’ invokes fear and misery because it is perceived as invariably leading to painful death.

“In our part of the world, cancers are often discovered late and data indicate that over 16,600 cases of cancer occur annually in Ghana,” Mrs Akufo-Addo said.

She said data and research in Ghana, however, focused on specific cancers, making it difficult to know the real number of cases.

Challenges

She mentioned that access to diagnostics, treatment and medicines was fraught with many challenges, including late presentation and diagnosis, lack of awareness of the disease, funding challenges, inadequate infrastructure to deal with the disease and inadequate qualified personnel.

To address those challenges and improve access on the disease, she said, partnerships had been established targeting improved awareness, screening, early diagnosis and treatment by trained professionals.

“We are supporting community awareness creation and screening initiatives. We are educating against some traditional cultural beliefs and myths, encouraging behavioural changes and promoting healthy lifestyles,” she said.

She thanked Roche, an international pharmaceutical organisation, and some non-governmental organisations for their support in ensuring that issues on cancers, as well as treatments, were demystified in the country.

She said most cancers could be cured when detected early and, therefore, called on people to report early for treatment to avoid unforeseen circumstances.

Dedicated research

Mr Charles Fordjour, the Head of Africa Health Policy and Government Affairs, Roche Ghana, in a panel discussion, said until countries got to a point when there was dedicated research, issues on cancers could not be solved.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Jhpiego, USA, Dr Leslie Mancuso, called on African countries to integrate breast and cervical cancer screening into their family planning systems.

She commended Ghana for integrating HIV and cervical cancer screening into its maternal health policy.

The Assistant Director-General, Family, Women’s and Children’s Health of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Flavia Bustreo, called on African leaders to focus on partnerships, prevention and palliation in the fight against cancers.

She also called for a change of the narration on cancers as a death sentence to let people know that they were treatable so that they could seek early treatment.

The Director-General of the Forum of African First Ladies/Spouses Against Cancers, Princess Nikky Onyeri, pledged the forum’s support for the various First Ladies in their fight against cancers.

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