13 May 2008
Accra — The CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah on Friday May 9 2008 launched a new London-based pan-African charity, the African Cancer Organisation (ACO).
As an organisation the ACO will be dedicated to reducing the impact of cancer in Africa through the provision of effective public awareness interventions aimed at decreasing cancer incidence and mortality in Africa. The organisation will be positioned to advocate on behalf of those who may be suffering from cancer or may be in the most vulnerable groups, act to promote volunteer services, support cancer research, encourage cancer screening programmes, mobilise resources through fund-raising activities, and forge strong institutional partnerships with other similar organisations.
In a pre-launch statement Dr. Spio-Garbrah noted that cancer is one of the fastest growing diseases and causes of death on the African continent, and has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the four major health problems confronting mankind in this century. Studies show that people of African descent face a higher cancer incidence and mortality than other racial groups in the world, and Africa will be accounting for 1 million cases a year by the year 2020.
He said African women, for example, are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers than women of other races, partly because these cancers arise in base cells, and African women have only about 23% oestrogen receptors compared with 80% in Caucasian women, noting that early detection measures are critical to keeping the African population healthy and productive.
According to the Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT), Massoud Samiei, there is almost no cancer prevention or public education across much of Africa, and radiotherapy, which is used effectively on more than 50 percent of cancer patients in high-income countries, is simply unavailable to millions of cancer sufferers on the continent.
Attendees at the launch included diplomats who represent African countries in the U.K., officials from development institutions, leading pharmaceutical firms, African doctors, UK doctors interested in African health issues, UK government officials, and world-leading oncologists as well as representatives of various African organisations based in London. Charities including Cancer Black Care, Macmillan Cancer Organisation, Anthony Nolan Trust, and other major global cancer organisations were also present.
Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who is a former Ghana Ambassador to the United States of America, Minister of Education and Minister of Communications serves as the interim chairman of the ACO.
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