Survival rate for prostate cancer high
The month of September is recognised as World Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. During this period, a lot of activities are organised in countries across the world to commemorate the month.
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Much of these activities are centred on creating awareness of prostate cancer.
In Canada, for instance, the month is recognised as Blue Month where the citizens are engaged and educated on the disease and the need to seek early medical care and prevention.
Scary statistics on prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect Canadian men, according to Prostate Cancer Canada Network, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Canada.
It said one in every eight men would be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.
Men’s Health Foundation (MHF), a charitable organisation in Ghana focused on raising awareness of the disease, has also said the disease is killing one man every hour of the day globally, and 800 men died in Ghana yearly out of every 1000 men diagnosed.
It also projects that one in every five Ghanaian men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime, while the Prostate Cancer UK puts the risk factor to one in every four black men to get prostate cancer in their lifetime.
The MHF has further observed that most men in Ghana do not know the difference between enlarged prostate and prostate cancer.
Hope
Despite the scary statistics and revelations organisations and other bodies have put across, the MHF has intimated that there is hope, in that “the survival rate for prostate cancer can be over 90 per cent when detected early.”
However, the MHF said it believed there was still the need for intensive education and information about the disease; hence the commemoration of the month across the globe was in order.
While recognising the efforts of some foundations and organisations in some countries by way of helping to create awareness, it was also important for the rest of the world, especially African countries, to see the importance of the day.
And the quality and availability of treatment and care can vary depending on where men live.
Men’s health has been low on the agenda for far too long, so it’s time for men to stand together against the injustices of prostate cancer.
Men’s Health Foundation
In Ghana, recognition of the Prostate Cancer Month receives relatively low attention.
One organisation that is gradually bringing much awareness of the disease to the limelight in the country is the MHF, which is under the leadership of Dr Raphael Nyarkotey Obu.
The founder is a registered Naturopathic Doctor and a PhD candidate in prostate cancer and alternative medicine at the Indian Board of Alternative Medicines Academy, Kolkata, India.
He has close to 200 publications on both scholarly and newspaper articles with 10 books on prostate health.
Dr Obu is also the founder of De Men’s Clinic. In 2014, he was recognised as one of the most successful students in prostate cancer by the Alumni Connects office of the Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
The foundation is a registered charity group that acts as a support group for prostate cancer patients and other men’s health-related issues. The charity is also a member of the Global Prostate Cancer Alliance Network (GPCAN).
According to Dr Obu, the scary nature of the disease called for much attention from all Ghanaians.
“Awareness creation, education, screening and research into prostate cancer have received little attention in Ghana, leaving tests and treatments trailing behind other common cancers,” he believes.
Interventions
As part of the interventions of the group, a Cancer Research Laboratory has been established at Akoto House, Dodowa, in the Greater Accra Region, to provide relevant information regarding prostate cancer treatment, offering screening programmes and helping men to deal with the side effect of prostate cancer treatment.
Men’s Health Foundation also holds a television programme on men’s health on Amansan Television every week.
The founder himself has also taken the initiative to contribute as a columnist in the Weekend Finder, Weekend Sun, Today Newspaper and the Modernghana website by writing weekly columns on Fridays on men’s prostate health.
He has appealed to the President, John Dramani Mahama, to recognise the Father’s Day in Ghana as a National Prostate Cancer Day to strengthen the fight against the disease in the country.
He expressed the belief that the President could do that through a presidential initiative on free prostate check.
Future projects
According to Dr Obu, the prospects of the organisation as far as raising awareness of the disease were bright.
In the not-too-distant future, Dr Obu said, the organisation would establish prostate screening centres in all the regions of the country.
The organisation also seeks to establish an integrative cancer centre in the country as well as an alternative medical college in the country.
It has also projected training health professionals in integrative approach to prostate cancer management and treatment.
“We also have plans in place to establish a Men’s Health TV, Men’s Health Newsletter and Men’s Health Radio to educate men on health matters, especially on prostate cancer.
“We are also pushing for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to add prostate cancer to the list of diseases the authority recognises as free,” Dr Obu stated.
To that end, vigorous trainings and mobilisation of community members to champion prostate cancer would take place in some selected communities in the country, and an ultramodern men’s health call centre would also be established to provide prompt information on men’s health 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But Dr Obu believes that these could not be achieved without the assistance and support of Ghanaians, and called on all and sundry to rally behind the association to make that come through.
Gradually, he said, the country would be gravitating towards transforming the future of prostate cancer through a “Zero Prostate Cancer Project.”
He expressed the hope that by 2025, about 80 per cent of men in the county would survive the disease if continuous education was carried out.
