A revolution in cervical cancer prevention in Ghana

Abstract

Though cervical cancer is largely preventable, success depends on sustained screening and treatment of precancer. This is not available in many low resource settings where screening and treatment services are not available due to a lack of government support. Our vision of setting up a comprehensive cervical cancer prevention scheme across Ghana that offers services tailored to fit every patient's needs, and relies on task shifting has been made possible through the setting up of the Cervical Cancer Prevention and Training Centre (CCPTC) to train and equip middle cadre staff (mostly nurses and midwives) to provide crucial cervical precancer screening and treatment services in many areas of the country that have never seen any such screening activities. To achieve this vision, we have learnt to produce crucial context relevant teaching materials and consumables locally, while adapting simple, readily available social media applications to raise crowd funds to support our work, use these apps to support routine work and to create a network of service providers at various service levels that can rely on each other and assure quality. Our vision has been supported by individuals and organizations that believe in it. They have allowed us to determine our growth and success. By sharing the experiences of the CCPTC we hope to encourage others to set up screening centers in low resource settings.

Prevalence and epidemiological profile of cervical cancer patients attending Nyeri County and Referral Hospital, Kenya: a review of records 2017 – 2022.

“…For instance, in a study done in Ethiopia, 64.5% of cervical cancer patients died within the ve-year period of follow up signifying a very high death rate. In Ghana the death rate of cervical cancer patient is reported to have increased from 12.5% ve years ago to 60.7%(Effah et al, 2022). This con rms to what has been reported in most sub-Saharan countries where ~ 90% of all cervical cancer cases occurs (Jedy-Agba et al, 2020) and which is the region most hard hit by this disease.In this study, 47.9% of patients were diagnosed at advanced stages of cervical cancer, as compared to a study done in MTRH where 68.5% of participants presented with advanced stages of cervical cancer(Mwaliko et al, 2022).…”

HPV DNA Testing and Mobile Colposcopy for Cervical Precancer Screening in HIV Positive Women: A Comparison Between Two Settings in Ghana and Recommendation for Screening

“…For the women who could not afford the follow-up screening, having been entered into our database, we would use the training program of the CCPTC (where each trainee pays for ‘free’ screening of 15 women) to screen them. 21 We shall be visiting the Tema General Hospital at a later date, at which time women ‘lost to follow-up’ (who could not get follow-up screening on their own) have been called to undergo ‘free’ screening/follow-up. In addition, those who had invalid hr-HPV DNA test results will be recalled for repeat sample collection.…”

Perceptions of barriers and facilitators for cervical cancer screening from women and healthcare workers in Ghana: Applying the Dynamic Sustainability Framework

“…Ghana faces many barriers in its effort to address the high incidence of cervical cancer. Currently, there is no national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign to protect women from contracting HPV, the main cause of cervical cancer (4). As a result, both vaccination and screening rates remain low (2).…”