35 women die weekly of cervical cancer – Dr. Mrs. Owusu-Afriyie

Thirty-five women die every week of cervical cancer in Ghana, Dr. Mrs. Anita Owusu-Afriyie a Medical Officer, Oncology Unit, International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) has disclosed.

Dr. Mrs. Owusu-Afriyie said data indicated that 233 women are diagnosed every month with cervical cancer, and 142 die monthly.

She said on a weekly breakdown as high as 58 women are diagnosed every week and sadly 35 also die every week.

It is estimated that 2,797 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer yearly in Ghana out of which 1,699 die from the disease.

Dr Mrs Owusu-Afriyie stressed that cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer in women in Ghana after breast cancer.

Dr. Mrs. Owusu-Afriyie gave the statistics at the “Your Health! Our Concern! Is a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative that seeks to set the medium for the propagation of health information to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy.

“Your Health! Our Concern! is a public health advocacy platform initiated by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.

The IMaH Medical Officer explained that long-lasting infection with certain types of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer.

She stressed that HPV is a common virus that is passed from one person to another during sex, adding that at least half of sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives, but few women will get cervical cancer.

Dr. Mrs. Owusu-Afriyie also advised women who intend to go for cervical cancer screening not to do it during menstruation as the menstrual blood can affect the analysis.

She encouraged women who encounter any bleeding after sex or after menstrual periods which is abnormal to seek medical attention.

However, when one is undergoing treatment of cervical cancer should abstain from sexual intercourse or avoid unprotected sex because the treatment is done to kill the cancer cells from the cervix.

Dr. Mrs. Owusu-Afriyie urged all females from age 21 and above to go for screening.

The IMaH Medical Officer, therefore, appealed to women to regularly undertake cervical cancer screening “as early diagnosis would help save a life…. men should encourage their partners, wives, sisters, mothers, and friends to go for screening”.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager explained that “Your Health! Our Concern” seeks to leverage Ghana News Agency’s communication expertise together with the health professional skills to educate the public to understand that the health of everyone matters and should be the concern of all.

He said parents’ health should be the concern of children and vice versa, employees’ health should be the concern of employers, and in general, Health professionals’ health should be the concern of the public, while the reverse should also hold.

“We must all be concerned about the health of some other person in order to develop a healthy society,” Mr. Ameyibor noted.

Mr. Ameyibor said the weekly health dialogue platform would also be used as an effective communication channel for health professionals to educate the public on healthy practices and other general health challenges.