a-5948 (ACC-GHA-5948)

Nach einer Recherche in unserer Länderdokumentation und im Internet können wir Ihnen Materialien zur Verfügung stellen, die unter anderem folgende Informationen enthalten:
Behandlungssituation von Brustkrebs
„The general lack of adequate early detection, diagnosis and treatment services nation-wide, coupled with ignorance and poverty, contribute largely to high incidence of late breast cancers in Ghana. […] Late breast cancer like other cancers consists of a local and systemic component. Both components must be effectively controlled, to make treatment meaningful. Unfortunately, many regional hospitals deal with the local component often and neglect the systemic component for many reasons. Korle – Bu Teaching hospital, currently has a more elaborate protocol for treating late breast cancers, which is exceptional. Other regional hospitals must be encouraged and supported to adopt the same protocol.
The systemic component of late breast cancer demands the use of chemotherapy or other measures to check distant spread from breast to other vital organs (metastasis). High expertise is required in administering these very expensive and relatively toxic drugs. The problem here seems to be centred on the lack of personnel and affordability of the drugs. Very recent public concern about the disease and its destructive consequences of women in their reproductive ages is rising, but the awareness level is still low and as a result most victims or families of victims still suffer heavy losses due to low survival rates. From my experience working with MAMMOCARE, I can confidently estimate the survival rate for breast cancer, during the first five years after treatment, to be less than 45%. The high cost (several millions of cedis) and variations in treatment from hospital to hospital are the major issues to be addressed in this regard. I have come to know far too many women with breast cancer, who have died not having access to treatment, because they are poor or could not reach a particular hospital. Large breast tumours, ulcerated breast masses, pre-menopausal status, and black race, all correlate with increased occurrence of breast cancers, which do not depend on estrogens for their growth any longer. Breast cancers, which are not oestrogen-dependent, are more amenable to chemotherapy in addition to surgery. This combination of treatment options often leads to very high cost and therefore the majority of breast cancer patients may find themselves in a seemingly hopeless situation. In reality many patients are able to afford surgery but not additional chemotherapeutic drugs which may be necessary for better management of advanced or late breast cancer. A very small fraction is able to afford surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy as prescribed by their surgeons.“ (Ghartey, S. 4f)
In den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen konnten im Rahmen der zeitlich begrenzten Recherche keine weiteren Informationen zur Behandlungssituation von Brustkrebs in Ghana gefunden werden.
Behandlungssituation von Lymphknotenkrebs
In den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen konnten im Rahmen der zeitlich begrenzten Recherche keine Informationen zur Behandlungssituation von Lymphknotenkrebs in Ghana gefunden werden. Gesucht wurde zu beiden Fragestellungen auf der Länderseite Ghanas auf ecoi.net nach cancer, „breast cancer“ und „lymph node cancer“, sowie mittels Google nach folgenden Begriffen: Ghana "breast cancer"/ Ghana "breast cancer" treatment/ Ghana "National Cancer Control Programme"/ "Ghana Breast Cancer Symposium"/ Korle Bu Teaching Hospital/ Korle Bu Teaching Hospital cancer/ "Korle Bu" OR Korlebu Teaching Hospital/ "cancer society of Ghana" Accra/ "cancer society of Ghana"/ "Lymph node cancer" OR lymphoma OR "Hodgkin's disease" OR "non-Hodgkin's disease" Ghana/ "Lymph node cancer" OR lymphoma OR "Hodgkin's disease" OR "non-Hodgkin's disease" Ghana treatment/ Ghana cancer access treatment/ health system Ghana cancer/ "Breast Cancer Support Group of Ghana"/ Lymphknotenkrebs OR Lymphom Behandlung Ghana/ Brustkrebs Behandlung Ghana
Behandlungsmöglichkeiten von Krebserkrankungen in Ghana
 „WHO and IAR C are helping Ghana keep check on its cancer burden. Two cancer registries have been established in teaching hospitals in the capital, Accra, and the country’s second-largest city, Kumasi. “We are trying to speed up the registry of cancer patients so that we can make the case that there is a public health problem posed by cancer,” says Dr Joaquim Saweka, WHO’s Country Representative for Ghana. More than 14 000 Ghanaians die from cancer annually and Saweka believes that data made available by the registries will highlight to government policymakers how important the disease is. WHO has given overseas training to staff members on running a cancer registry, provided computers for the centres and run in-country workshops with medical personnel. “These registries will give Ghana updated statistics on the occurrence of cancer in the country, because at this moment there is little available information,” Saweka says. “Once we have this data it will be easier to mobilize government attention to respond to the increasing impact of cancer.” WHO support also includes facilitating study tours and providing training to sensitize health workers on cancer-related issues.“
(WHO, 2007, S. 23)
 „AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are major health concerns in Ghana. Cancer, blindness, and the exodus of trained health care professionals also are among the key problems in the health system of the country. Cancer currently is not among the leading causes of death in Ghana, but it will climb to top of this list soon, according to the WHO 2005 Report. Late presentation of cancer patients is a major problem in Ghana, as it is across Africa. Treating advanced cancers is much more complex and expensive than treating early detected cancers. Moreover, the possibility of cure for these patients is minimal. General observation across the Continent has indicated that some cultural practices (consultation of traditional healers before hospital) and a lack of knowledge of cancer presentation among the public are among the major barriers to early detection.“ (HopeXChange, 2007)
  • UN Chronicle – UN Chonicle Online Edition (Massoud Samiei, David Kinley III): System Watch - 'I Can Walk Again' - Radiotherapy Transforms a Cancer Patient's Life. Volume XLIII, Number 1, 2006
    http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2006/issue1/0106p74.htm (Zugriff am 21. Februar 2008)
„’The most common forms of cancer in Ghanaian men are of the lungs and oesophagus, while in women are breast and cervical cancers’, said Dr. K. Frimbong-Boateng, Executive Director of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana's biggest and most effective treatment centre, offering radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy services. As more cancer cases are being diagnosed, an increasing number of Africans are seeking modern treatment. However, the statistics for Ghana reveal a service shortage of crisis proportion; with a population of 20 million, it can expect up to 20,000 new cases of cancer each year.
Korle Bu Hospital began treating patients in 1997, although its capacity hardly exceeds 1,000 patients per year, while a second IAEA-assisted facility at Komfo Anokye Hospital in Kumasi started in early 2004. However, even with the expansion of these two facilities and the completion in five years of a third treatment centre in the northern province, Ghana will have a capacity to treat about 6,000 cancer patients a year.“
(UN Chronicle, 2006)
„Benjamin Nartey Abrakwa [Koordinator des National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) im Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Anmerkung ACCORD] said the hospital administration was in close collaboration with the NHIC [National Health Insurance Council] to enable it offer treatment for cancer related diseases, explaining that even though the treatment of cancer fall under the NHIS, drugs for treatment are not included in the essential drugs list under the scheme.“ (newtimesonline.com, 22. August 2006)
„The Cancer Society of Ghana (CSG), non-governmental organisation, was launched in Accra on Wednesday to facilitate a national awareness drive on the prevention and treatment of cancer. The Society would lead the crusade on the dangers associated with the disease and provide support for patients. It comprises medical practitioners, the clergy, business entrepreneurs and the academia. Dr Kweku Afriyie, Minister of Health, who launched the NGO on behalf of Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama tasked the members to be proactive and pragmatic in initiating programmes to educate the citizenry about the disease.“ (Homepage Ghana, 23. Juni 2004)
„Radiotherapy in Ghana
Ghana is centrally located in the West African subregion. It has a land area of 238 539 km2 and a population of 18.5 million people (2000 Census).
There is one functioning radiotherapy centre in the capital, Accra (since October 1997). It has a cobalt-60 machine, an orthovoltage machine, a simulator, a low dose-rate after loading caesium brachytherapy machine, a mould room, three radiation oncologists and two therapy radiographers. A second radiotherapy centre at Kumasi is ready for commissioning and assumption of work (but it has a lack of staff).
About 80% our cancer patients have either locally advanced or metastatic disease in which curative therapy is remote.
Problems in Ghana
* Illiteracy     * Poverty     * Ignorance     * Late referrals     * Lack of early detection programmes     * Lack of effective cancer control and education programmes
Radiotherapy has been very effective in the control of pain due to bone metastasis, relieve of compression in superior vena cava symptoms and spinal cord compression, bleeding (urgent haemostatic radiotherapy stops bleeding and prevents further blood loss, e.g. in cervical cancer, haemoptysis from lung cancer, epistasis from nasopharyngeal, maxillary antrum cancers and anorectal cancers) and brain metastasis.“ (NCRNM, 2004)
 „Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the Minister of Health, in a speech read for him, told the conference, which brought together scientists and experts across Africa, Europe and the United States, that the management of cancer and other similar diseases was very expensive and only the rich could afford. It is for this reason, he said, that the government was introducing the National Health Insurance Scheme.“ (Homepage Ghana, 6. Oktober 2003)
Diese Informationen beruhen auf einer zeitlich begrenzten Recherche in öffentlich zugänglichen Dokumenten, die ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehen. Diese Antwort stellt keine Meinung zum Inhalt eines bestimmten Ansuchens um Asyl oder anderen internationalen Schutz dar. Wir empfehlen, die verwendeten Materialien zur Gänze durchzusehen.