The management of Rabito Clinic in collaboration with Ray Foundation Onlus (RFO), an Italian health institution are to organise cervical cancer screening to create awareness of the disease in the country.
The screening is scheduled from Wednesday June 15, at the Clinic behind Koala Shopping Centre in Accra.
Dr Anthony Dery, a Consultant at Rabito Clinic, said cervical cancer was a serious condition affecting women in the country.
The disease is caused by a virus called Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and occurs in the late teens and early twenties following onset of sexual activity, and when not treated early, may progress to cervical cancer over a period of 10-30 years.
Dr Derry said during persistent HPV infection, pre-cancerous changes might be detected in the cervix, therefore early detection and treatment of these changes was an affective strategy for prevention.
He said Sub-Sahara Africa and South America had the highest incidence of cervical cancer in the world as the disease accounts for one per cent of all adult deaths and two per cent of all women deaths.
Professor Edmund N. Delle, President of Africa Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, said the screening was important
because women constitute a greater number of the country’s population.
He said a project dubbed “One Day Stop Cervical Cancer in Women” was instituted as part of the programme to sensitise the public on the
disease and encourage them to undergo screening for early detection and prevention.
Prof. Delle, who is also the Founder of Rabito Clinic, said worldwide, after breast cancer, cervical cancer was the second most
common cancer that affected women, and appealed to other Non-Governmental Organization to support the screening exercise since early detection of the disease was an opportunity to save Ghanaian
women from misery and death.
He appealed to the government to help facilitate the delivery of the screening equipment that had delayed the African Ground Operations (AFGO) due to the high cost of duties.
Miss Luciana Di Benedetto, a representative of RFO, said a camper equipped for gynaecological visits would be positioned in mainly frequented areas or marketplaces to offer free gynaecological
consultation and rapid HPV test for women.
She said a gynaecologist and a midwife would give information about the test and its relevance to prevent cervical cancer.
Miss Benedetto said another aspect of the project was the test’s rapidity, whereby a patient could receive the results within an hour
and in the case of testing positive, a specific medical indication was assured.
She said as part of activities for the project, the foundation would meet local population in medical centres, hospitals to educate and promote the campaign adding, after the campaign, data about patients would be processed in a quantitative and qualitative analysis format.
Mrs Marian Tackie, a representative from the Ministry of Health, expressed appreciation to the foundation for the initiative that would
help enhance public-private participation in health delivery.
She said about 79,000 African women are diagnosed with cervical cancer yearly and 62,000 die from the disease, and noted that the
campaign would help create awareness of the disease which is one of the silent killers of women.
Mrs Tackie said the Ministry would offer the needed support in the fight against the menace and urged young women to avoid casual sex since 80 per cent of the disease was caused by sexual activity.
She urged women to participate in the exercise and know their status for early prevention and treatment.