Edmond Gyebi
25 August 2008
Tamale — The Women's Commission, of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), and other female students in Tertiary and Senior High schools, have taken steps to stage a serious campaign towards the prevention and cure of cervical cancer in the country.
Cervical cancer is one of the most dangerous Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), that kills thousands of women every year in Africa.
It is the advanced and uncontrolled growth, or division of abnormal cells of the cervix of the uterus (cervical cancer).
The treatment of cervical cancer is very costly, according to health experts, considering the number of months it takes before a person is totally cured.
In view of this, the Women's Commission of NUGS organized a seminar in Tamale to sensitise young women, especially female students, who were the most likely victims of the illness.
According to Ms Iddrisu Fadila, a Women's Commissioner of the University Students Association of Ghana, in an interview with The Chronicle, the dangerous nature of cervical cancer had made it a desire for female students to fight against it, before the thousands of deaths each year turn into millions.
The seminar was under the theme: "Cervical Cancer Screening and Awareness Creation; The Role of the Female Student in Achieving the third target of the Millennium Development Goals".
Globally, cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women. About 510,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed or reported annually, with 68,000 in Africa, 77,000 in Latin Americ and 245,000 in Asia.
In 2005, between 260,000 to 290,000 women died of the disease, nearly 95% of them in developing countries, including Ghana, making cervical cancer one of the gravest threats to women's lives.
According to Dr. James Akpablie, a gynaecologist who facilitated the one-day seminar, at least 80% of all incidences of cervical cancer and related mortality, have been observed in regions of Africa, with women from underserved and resource-poor populations carrying the greatest burden of the disease.
He also mentioned that between 18% and 22% of cancers in women in Ghana, were caused by cervical cancer. The disease, as peculiar as it is, takes between 10 and 30 years to incubate, and spread in the affected person.
It is, however, difficult to treat, if it multiplies in the system of the person.
Dr. Akpablie, who is also the Project Officer of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Northern Region, said cervical cancer was caused by smoking, multiple sex partners, early sex before adulthood, or deliberate refusal to use condoms during sex, and too many births.
He recommended that, all women, especially teenagers who were at risk of cervical cancer, should be screened or tested.
Dr. Akpablie stated that a new programme should start by screening women aged 30 years or more, and include younger women, only when the higher risk group had been covered.
He, therefore, appealed to institutions, NGOs, women's and human rights groups, to increase advocacy and support for cervical cancer control in Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Tamale Metropolitan Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Mr. Tuferu Aminu, has indicated that the treatment of cervical cancer was covered under the NHIS scheme.
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