Ghanaian Women Advised To Test For Cervix Cancer

A Ghanaian medical officer Monday urged women aged 35 years and above, to undergo screening for cervix cancer every three years as the disease continues to worry the country's health authorities.

Dr Emmanuel Mensah, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, who was inaugurating the Cervical Cancer Advisory Group in Accra, said this would enhance early detection and treatment of the disease.

The group, comprising 30 medical, nursing and public health experts as well as government policy makers, would serve as a national resource and advocacy base for cervical cancer prevention.

Cervical cancer is caused by infection through a sexually transmitted virus.

Globally, the disease accounts for 200,000 deaths and over 300,000 new cases each year.

About 80 percent of the cases occur in developing countries.

Data on the disease in Ghana is not available because no epidemiological studies have been conducted.

Flimsy studies, however, indicate that it is the commonest among reported cases of all cancers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the country's largest teaching hospital.

Among some of the predisposing factors that expose women to the disease, especially those aged 25 to 45 years, are early sex, multiple sexual partners, sexually transmitted diseases, smoking and abnormal vagina bleeding including bleeding after sex.

Between October 1997 and December 2000, there were 481 cases of cancer of the cervix out of 1,661 patients screened at the Radiotherapy Unit at Korle Bu.

Mensah said the Ministry of Health would provide the facilities and use health education methods to encourage as many women as possible to report regularly for testing.

"The Ministry is giving serious encouragement for the investigation of herbal medicines that show promising results in the treatment of cervical cancer and other reproductive tract infections," he said.

Health officials say treatment and management of the disease have not been successful in Ghana because "pap-smear" testing facilities are not only expensive but there are also inadequate specialists to handle the condition.