HealthNews

Vaccinate against cervical cancer, says doctor

Dr Kofi Effa says women should also make sure that their children also get screened and vaccinated against the disease since that is one laudable step to eliminate cervical cancer

The medical doctor at the Battor Catholic Hospital in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region, Dr Kofi Effa has urged women to get screened and vaccinated against cervical cancer disease.

According to him, women should also make sure that their children also get screened and vaccinated against the disease since that is one laudable step to eliminate cervical cancer in the country.

“My advice is that, women should access cervical pre-cancer screening services, they should get vaccinated if they can and should get their children, boys and girls nine to 14 years old vaccinated. When we do this we will be on the way to preventing cervical cancer,” he said.

Dr Effa gave the advice in an interview with Asaase News during a tour made to the facility’s  Cervical Cancer and Prevention Training Centre on Thursday (3 February),  a day before the 2022 World Cancer Day.

The doctor, who doubles as head of the Cervical Cancer and Prevention Training Centre at the Hospital suggested that, training of health students on cervical cancer, prevention and treatment should be considered in nursing and midwifery colleges since there’s no such programme in the country’s health institutions.

“If we can have this training incorporated in the curricular of the nurses and midwifery colleges, post-graduating in the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for example, then we are going to get health workers who will come out with the skills to screen and treat pre cancer of the cervix and prevent cervical cancer. If we don’t do that, what it will means is that, health workers will continue to come out without the skills and you need to come to a centre like ours but we can do a most sustainable job by having this kind of work their doing incorporated in training programmes of these schools”.

The Battor Catholic Hospital’s Cervical Cancer and Prevention Training Centre is the only centre training health workers from all walks of the country including health workers from Sierra Leone and Libera.

Dr Effa then urged individuals and benevolent organisations to sponsor health workers in their communities to undergo training on cervical cancer prevention and treatment.

According to the 2021 report on Ghana by International Cancer Organization (ICO) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), some 2,797 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually and out of which 1,699 die from the disease.

The report indicated that, Cervical cancer is ranked as the second most frequent cancer
among women in Ghana and the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age.

On her part, a nurse working at the Hospital who doubles as facilitator at the centre, Ethel Tekpor mentioned that, quite an interesting number of health workers from across the country has gone through training at the centre and now rendering service in their respective areas.

She also revealed that, with the help of technological equipment, the centre is doing well in screening and treatment of cervical cancer as well as training of health workers.

She emphasised that, it is necessary for everyone especially young women to pay key attention to their health, most importantly, doing away with multiple sex partners.

Albert Kuzor and Nana Adjoa Entsuah-Hagan

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