Kwadjo Asante
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Suhum, Kwadjo Asante, has urged his colleagues to take active part in supporting and leading the campaign to accelerate further progress for a world without cancer.
He wants MPs to constantly reflect on what they can do to reduce the impact of cancer on individual households, the nation and the world at large.
Making a statement on the Floor of Parliament last Friday in commemoration of the World Cancer Day, Mr. Asante called on “us all to remember that there is always hope when we take action and even in the moments of darkness, we have to look for the light!”
The World Cancer Day is a day set aside to promote the global awareness of cancer around the world, and it has been held on February 4 since its inception in the year 2000 at the first ever world summit against cancer.
According to the Suhum MP, globally, cancer is ranked to be a leading cause of death among non-communicable diseases in the 21st century, and in Ghana, estimates suggest that the disease is expected to increase continuously due to lack of awareness and ignorance of the symptoms.
“In fact, the story is told of one Yaw Boamah whose wife got cervical cancer in 2007. He and his wife had never imagined that cancer would ever come their way. Mr. Boamah’s wife expressed her desire to choose suicide or death over the pain and misery of dealing with the suffering the disease visited upon her,” he recounted.
The MP said Mr. Boamah, at some point, sold his large cocoa farm, a plot of land and other properties in order to save his wife’s life but even that did not make a difference.
“Rt. Hon. Speaker, due to lack of knowledge, the family thought she was suffering from a spiritual disease and so delayed going to the hospital. Dr. Ernest Osei Bonsu, an oncologist at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital relates that oftentimes 80% of cervical cancer cases come in at a later date.
“The victims wait until the pain hits them. At this time, they cannot be medically cured. It is too late,” he recalled and added that cancer awareness had become exceedingly important in the 21st century.
While there have been numerous advancements in the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, the MP said factors that should contribute to the decline of the disease, the number of new cases diagnosed each year had globally continued to increase.
Mr. Asante indicated that he was afraid since according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), if the incidence of cancer continues to grow at this rate, the number of deaths worldwide from cancer would increase to more than 16.3 million by 2040.
“Mr. Speaker, the World Cancer Report provides clear evidence that healthy lifestyles and public health action by governments and health practitioners could stem this trend, and prevent as many as one third of cancers worldwide.
“This assertion is buttressed by WHO, that as much as forty per cent (40%) of deaths from cancer are preventable!” the MP indicated.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House