It is estimated that 2,797 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually in Ghana. Out of this number, 1,699 women die from the disease, Anita Owusu-Afriyie, a medical officer at the oncology unit of the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH), has said.
The data shows that 233 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer monthly and 142 of them die monthly. She stressed that cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer in women in Ghana after breast cancer.
Owusu-Afriyie gave the statistics at the “Your Health! Our Concern!”, a Ghana News Agency (GNA) initiative that seeks to provide health information to influence personal health choices.
She appealed to women to regularly undertake cervical cancer screening “as early diagnosis will help save a life… men should encourage their partners, wives, sisters, mothers, and friends to go for screening.”
The IMaH medical officer explained that long-lasting infection from certain types of human papilloma virus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer.
She stressed that HPV is a common virus 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.
Owusu-Afriyie 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 experience bleeding after sex or after menstruation to seek medical attention.
She added that when a woman is undergoing treatment for cervical cancer, she should either abstain from sexual intercourse or avoid unprotected sex because the treatment kills the cancer cells from the cervix. She urged all females 21 years and above to get screened for cervical cancer.
Francis Ameyibor, GNA Tema regional manager, explained that “Your Health! Our Concern” seeks to leverage GNA’s communication expertise with the health professional skills to educate the public to understand that the health of everyone matters and should be the concern of all.
“We must all be concerned about the health of some other person in order to develop a healthy society,” Ameyibor said.
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