Socio-Economic Effects of Cervical Cancer in Ghana/Africa

Introduction

Attention to cervical cancer in Ghana throughout the time span 1970 to 1997 was episodic and primarily came from the medical community, especially obstetricians and gynaecologists (ob-gyns). Very little screening for cervical cancer is finished in Ghana and there are no screening guidelines in place. As a outcome, only medical practitioners with a specific concern in cervical cancerous infection convey out screening or women who expressly demand it are screened. The lack of screening is due in part to restricted gear and resources. Specula, which are needed to present a pelvic examination, and other basic gear needed to present Pap smears, are in short supply.(Quartey,159) Only those ob-gyns educated overseas were trained in the treatment of cervical cancer.

Besides individual clinicians, there were no identifiable groups advocating for cervical cancer screening in any organized way in Ghana throughout the case study time span of 1990-1997. There have been television and wireless programmes to teach the public about cervical cancerous infection but these have been intermittent and the outcome of the efforts of individual physicians. However, it was portrayed in the media as being associated with early and illegal sexual activity and poor genital hygiene. (Keck,19)

There are also clues of episodic Ministry of Health (MOH) attention to cervical cancer. A previous head of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Unit proposed a study to work out the prevalence of cervical cancer for the development of a national screening programmed. However, this learning did not take place because of require of funding. In 1993, the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Reproductive Health (JHPIEGO) sent literature to the MCH unit proposing to start a cervical cancer screening study. The suggested study “died a natural death”, as asserted by the MCH Unit, afresh because of need of funding. The topic of cervical cancerous infection was revived afresh when the MOH made a draft the Reproductive Health Strategy and Protocol for Ghana in 1995. This principle article was proposed specifically to summarize strategies and activities relating to reproductive health in Ghana. (Barnum,59) The National and Reproductive Health Service Policy and Standards, published by the MOH in April 1996, does discuss the avoidance and management of cervical cancer at the sub-district and higher levels. It does not supply screening or treatment guidelines, but mentions avoidance of cervical cancer as one of the objectives of the policy. It also discusses breast cancer, under the avoidance and management of cancers of the reproductive tract, but does not supply screening or treatment protocols for breast cancer either. In the fall of that same year, two medical schools evolved a proposal to screen for cervical cancer in Ghana. As of 1998, although, were they were still waiting for MOH funding. (Quartey,159)

In 1995, the head of the MCH unit created a Cervical Cancer Working Group, which encompassed clinicians and Ministry of Health staff, to organize a navigate study of cervical cancer in Ghana. However, the employed assembly disagreed about the kind of screening procedure to ...