Boosting men’s health

The Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Charity Sarpong, is excited to be leading a charge to bring attention to and support early detection of prostate cancer with the receipt of Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Testing Devices.

The PSA Testing Devices and 2,450 cartridges have been donated to eight facilities in the Greater Accra Region by the German pharmaceutical group, Bayer AG and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. This is part of a partnership to build capacity for early diagnosis and increased awareness of prostate cancer. In addition to the donated devices, there will also be user and technical training for the beneficiary health facilities.

Dr. Nana Hagan, Vice President of Oncology for Bayer’s Global Regulatory Strategy, noted that “prostate cancer disproportionately affects men of African descent, and it is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths amongst Ghanaian men. Through the Bayer GIZ project and in collaboration with our stakeholders in Ghana, the project aims to make meaningful contributions towards curbing mortality rates in Ghanaian prostate cancer patients”.

The devices will be used to measure the amount of PSA in the blood. PSA levels may be increased with prostate cancer as well as other disorders of the prostate including prostatitis and benign prostatic hypertrophy. For men at high risk of early and aggressive prostate cancer, PSA testing in combination with other tests can help reduce late presentation of prostate cancer and potentially improve outcomes.

“At GIZ, we work with both local and international partners to create prospects for people and with people and we hope this action today would help to advance the Ghana Health Service’s aim to deliver healthcare at the doorstep of all”, noted Fred Effah Darko, Technical Advisor at GIZ develoPPP.

Dr. Charity Sarpong said it was exciting that attention is gradually shifting to men and with this donation, men’s health will be at the forefront of health in the region. She noted, “For a long time, emphasis has been on women with issues to do with cervical and breast cancer. And men are forgotten but they are also struggling. And we are not able to screen well and catch them early to begin the necessary intervention that will improve the quality of life for them. And this is why we are happy to partner Bayer, GIZ and all the others who have brought this onboard”.

Dr. Kennedy Brightson, Medical Superintendent of Shai Osudoku Hospital, expressed gratitude on behalf of his colleagues and recipient facilities. He recalled how GIZ helped to set up for the first time what at the time was called “prevention is better than cure” project which is now known as wellness clinics run in most facilities across the country. He said prostate cancer afflicts men but a lot of them suffer on the quiet only seeking help when it is almost too late.

Dr Kennedy Brightson explained that “with the machine that has been provided, we will be able to organize health education and screening in the communities because it is just a cartridge. We power the machine, take your sample, feed it into the machine and it tells us whether you are positive or negative. After that, we refer you to appropriate facilities for further investigations and case management”. He was happy that for purposes of prevention, the PSA Testing Devices will do a lot for the men.

The collaboration with Bayer AG is funded through the develoPPP programme that GIZ implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The eight facilities that received the PSA Testing Devices are LEKMA, Weija Gbawe, Mmamobi, Shai Osudoku, Ga West hospitals and Kaneshie, Kpone and Ashiaman Polyclinics.