SATURDAY, February 4, 2017 was celebrated as World Cancer Day. This year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) used the day to launch a new guide which aim is to improve the life span and chances of cancer survival patients with emphasis on diagnosing and treating the disease early.
PRIOR to the day, WHO had released that each year 8.8 million people die from cancer cases. These cancer deaths, according to WHO, mostly occur in low-and-middle-income countries. Of course the above bracket includes developing countries such as ours (Ghana).
ACCORDING to WHO, what accounts for the high number of cancer deaths is that many cancer cases are diagnosed too late. And even in countries with better health facilities, the World Health Organisation contends cancer cases are often diagnosed at an advanced stage. It is at this stage that it becomes harder to successfully treat, coupled with the huge financial cost involved.
“DIAGNOSING cancer in late stages, and the inability to provide treatment, condemns many people to unnecessary suffering and early death,” said Director of WHO’s Department for the Management of Non-communicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, Dr. Etienne Krug.
IT is for the above reason, we believe, that the WHO launched this new cancer guide, which, among other things, will help reduce drastically the number of cancer deaths recorded, especially in low-and-middle income nations.
CHRISTENED: WHO’s new Guide to cancer, early diagnosis, it spells out three important steps to early diagnosis. These are improving public awareness of different cancer symptoms and encouraging people to seek care when these arise; investing in strengthening and equipping health services and training health workers so they can conduct accurate and timely diagnostics, and lastly ensuring that people living with cancer can access safe and effective treatment.
IT is a fact that the treatment of cancer is very expensive. And in third world countries (such as Ghana) where poverty is high many relatives of cancer patients often are left with no other option but to abandon the course of treatment due to inaffordability.
IT is against this backdrop that Today urges government to implement the above WHO cancer Guide. We believe that the implementation of this new cancer Guide will contribute, in no small measure, to helping to reduce the cost of treatment normally associated with cancer cases.
WE also believe that by government investing in strengthening and equipping health services in the area of cancer, it will pave way for cancer patients in the country to have easy access.
ON top of all this we agree with WHO that low-middle-income countries must make a conscious effort at reducing the need for people to pay for care out of their own pockets, which prevents many from seeking help in the first place.
AND as WHO Assistant Director-General for Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Dr. Oleg Chestnov, states: “Accelerated government action to strengthen cancer early diagnosis is key to meet global health and development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Chestnov continues that “By taking the steps to implement WHO’s new guideline, healthcare planners can improve early diagnosis of cancer and ensure prompt treatment, especially for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. This will result in more people surviving cancer. It will also be less expensive to treat and cure cancer patients.”
AS a killer disease we cannot afford to brush aside this new cancer Guide, particularly when it comes with loads of advantages only to families but also to a country as a whole.
WE wish to passionately appeal to the health ministry to pursue this with all seriousness and ensure that we implement the cancer Guide in Ghana to help prolong lives of cancer patients.
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