The department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the School of Medicine (SOM) UHAS, celebrated this year’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, with a call to parents to seek early diagnoses for their children who may be suspected of having cancer, as their chances of total cure are better with early diagnosis and treatment.
Speaking on the sidelines of a four-day (September 17 to 20) Paediatric Oncology training for nurses drawn from Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH), Ho Municipal Hospital, Ho Technical University Clinic and Royal Hospital, Dr. Kokou Amegan-Aho, Head of the Department of Child Health at SOM (who also heads the Paediatric Oncology Unit at HTH), said the training was geared towards equipping the primary caregivers with the skill to understand, diagnose, manage and refer the cases when need be.
He noted that childhood cancer is becoming more common with little diagnosis, especially in developing countries. Globally, about 400,000 cases are diagnosed with about 90 percent of the diagnoses situated in developing countries and an estimated 1500 coming from Ghana. Sadly, only 400 of the cases get reported to the hospital. “Having our unit at HTH is helping us identify more cases and building the capacity for treatment here.”
He said in developed countries, earlier diagnosis and treatment meant about 80 per cent of children diagnosed made a complete recovery and lived a full life. “Childhood cancer is easier to handle than adult,” he said, and advised parents to send their children to the hospital when they continue treating a particular symptom that refuses to go away.
“If they are brought in earlier, treatment is usually cheaper and more effective. Unfortunately, most of the patients are brought in at an advanced stage where treatment is more aggressive and expensive,” he said.
Dr. Amegan-Aho therefore appealed to all stakeholders and philanthropists to assist the Unit at HTH with logistics to help manage the cases in the Region and beyond. He expressed hope of being able to facilitate the training of more healthcare stakeholders in the area of oncology.