Every two minutes a woman dies of cervical cancer- Dr Hiadzi March 30, 2011

Accra, March 29, GNA – Dr Edem Hiadzi, Medical Director of Lister Hospital on Tuesday said statistics available indicated that every two minutes a woman dies of Cervical Cancer worldwide.

He noted that the disease was the second most common cancer affecting women worldwide and accounting for about 10 per cent of all cancer cases.

Dr Hiadzi announced this at a sensitisation programme on the “effects of Cervical and Prostate Cancer on Reproductive Health of Individuals” for students of the Central University College, at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.

He said the programme was part of the Corporate Social Responsibility of the hospital to educate the public on issues affecting their health.

“Cervical Cancer develops in the cervix, the low, narrow neck of the uterus that opens into the vagina,” he said.

In addition, he said the disease was of vital importance because it prevents infections from reaching the uterus.

He explained that cervix plays a major role in pregnancy and birth stages, adding that it lengthens during pregnancy serving as a barrier to protect the foetus and also expands during child birth to allow the baby to pass through.

On the causes of Cervical Cancer, Dr Hiadzi said, it was caused by a virus called Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which was transmitted during sexual intercourse and sometimes through intimate genital skin to skin contact.

“Every sexually active women risk catching the virus. in fact up to 80 per cent of women will be infected with some type of the virus at sometime in their lives,” he added.

He warned that the risk of infection starts from the first sexual encounter and would continue through life.

Dr Hiadzi indicated that every year, across Africa, 79,000 women were diagnosed with the disease with about 62,000 women dying.

Most health care providers lack the needed skills to educate, provide screening services, identify and manage cases appropriately.

He announced that vaccines against the HPV infection was now available in the country and therefore prevention was currently possible.

Dr Hiadzi urged women to vaccinate alongside screening to reduce the risk of the disease.

He advised sexually active female students to go for checkups to know their Cervical Cancer status while admonishing the inactive ones to abstained from sex.

Touching on Prostate Cancer, the medical director said this was the leading cause of death in men especially in developing countries like Ghana.

Prostate Cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in a man’s prostate gland. the prostate is found just below the bladder.

He said as the life expectancy in developing countries increased the incidence of prostate cancer also sours up.

Dr Hiadzi noted that African and black Americans men were more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage of their lives.

He said screening for the cancer was to detect the disease at the early stages, adding that “age is a risk factor, the older you are the higher the risk of the ailment”.

Minimising the chance of getting Prostate Cancer, Dr Hiadzi said people could eat more low fat and high fibre foods, stressing that vegetables like kontomire, broccoli, cauli-flower, carrots and cabbage with food supplements such as vitamins D and E may also help prevent the disease. 

He advised men to talk to their doctors about the disease for early screening and prevention.

Symptoms of Prostate Cancer include weak or interrupted flow of urine, frequent urination especially at night, Blood in the urine, difficulty urinating and erectile dysfunction.

Greater Accra leads cholera infection March 22, 2011

Accra, March 22, GNA – Out of the recorded 4, 586 cases and 64 deaths recorded from the cholera outbreak in the country since September 2010, the Greater Accra Region is leading with 2, 756 cases and 31 deaths.

This had been attributed to the high rate of filth generated in Accra coupled with the perennial flooding and the sale of contaminated food in the city.

Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Health who was addressing the media after an inspection of some health facilities where some patients are on admission in Accra on Tuesday, cited the Upper East, Eastern and the Central regions as the other regions which had been hit by the epidemic.

He asked people who suspected that they were catching the infection to seek early treatment since treatment is free.

“I urge people who have started exhibiting the signs and symptoms of cholera to report as early as possible to all government health facilities for early treatment since it is free of charge. it has been detected most of those who die from it were the result from delays in seeking treatment,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Health had made available enough logistics and medication to some health facilities such as the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Adabraka and Maamobi Polyclinics to handle the epidemic and urged nurses to be cautious in treating infected persons.

At the Maamobi Polyclinic, Dr mrs Mildred Kummassah, who is the Medical Director in charge, said eight cases and four deaths had been recorded by the Polyclinic since 25th January 2010.

She expressed concern about the high rate at which people were encroaching on the polyclinic’s land and urged government to come to their aid.

“We also sometimes experience power fluctuations which had in some cases got our machines broken down because we do not have a reliable transformer,” she said.

At the Dworwulu Special School, mrs Veronica Sackey, Headmistress, said the School had recorded seven cases and one death since the disease was first detected on March 19, 2010.

“The first case was detected when a student who had visited the home returned. she died on the same day from diarrhoea,” she explained.

She said the school had sent all infected persons to hospital and had taken stock of large quantity of anti diarrhea drugs.

It had also improved the sanitary conditions of the school in order to stop the disease from spreading.

IPMC organises health walk to talk cholera March 13, 2011

Accra, March 13, GNA-Management and Students of IPMC, an Information Technology (IT) company, at the weekend organized a health walk through the principal streets of Nima, a suburb of Accra, to create awareness on Cholera.

The Chief Executive Officer of IPMC, Mr Amar Deep S. Hari, said the recent outbreak of cholera in the country claimed 34 lives with the Greater Accra Region recording the highest toll of 16 deaths.

Most of the reported cases in Accra involved residents from Abossey Okai, Zongo and Agbobloshie since these communities have a lot of slums with poor sanitary conditions. 

The exercise which was guided by the police took some of the participants in the local market and the Nima community to educate them of the pandemic.

Mr Hari said the exercise forms part of the social responsibility of the company in reaching out to its customers since the health of workers was paramount to the survival of any business venture.

He called for good hygiene and cleanliness to prevent such deadly diseases.

He said even though government was doing its best to halt the menace, IPMC thought it prudent to get involved in spreading the message to all to be aware and observe preventive measures.

Mr Hari said Nima was chosen because of its shanty status and crowded population which made it prone to communicable diseases.

According to him, James Knox Polk, the 11th American President and King Charles VII of France, all died of cholera, which means any body could die of the disease if proper hygiene was not observed.

Dr David Nortey of the Korle-Bu Polyclinic said one can get cholera by drinking water or eating food contaminated by the faecal matter also by simply shaking unclean hands of a person with cholera and not washing off before eating.

He said some of the symptoms of cholera are profuse watery stools and vomiting and weakness and dizziness.

Dr Nortey urged all to observe proper hygiene and defecating on open ground or into drains and advised anyone who noticed the symptoms to report immediately to any health facility for early treatment.