Dr. Joseph Oduro, the Deputy Ashanti Regional Health Director has expressed deep worry over the alarming rate at which Ghanaian women are dying through the cervical cancer disease and said this should not be allowed to continue.
It is estimated that 2,000 out of 3,000 women diagnosed of the cancer annually in the country die of the disease.
He said “this is bad news for us and we all need to tackle the problem with the urgency and the seriousness it deserves.”
Dr. Oduro, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, called for a well-coordinated, focused public education and health screening for early detection of the disease and treatment.
Cervical cancer, a viral disease is caused by “human papilloma virus (HPV)” and often contracted by women with multiple sexual partners.
Other causative factors include the application of chemicals – herbal concoctions into the vagina and smoking. The disease mostly affects those aged between 30 and 49 years.
The Deputy Regional Health Director mentioned bleeding after sex and in between menstrual periods, evidence of blood after menopause, vaginal discharge, loss of weight, abnormal bleeding and weak uterus, bladder and kidney as symptoms of the cancer.
He said any of these signs should be reportedly quickly to health facilities for treatment, warning that late diagnosis could be fatal.
Dr. Oduro pointed out that although the disease could not be completely cured, patients could be treated and sustained for a very long period.
He made reference to Europe where girls between the ages of 12 and 13 are immunized against the disease and said the nation could learn from that.
He said it was quite disheartening that a pilot programme launched in the Greater Accra Region to immunize women against the disease was yet to be rolled out to the other regions after two years.
