By Samira Larbie
Accra, Sept 23, GNA – The Peadiatric Oncology Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has called on parents to seek early treatment for childhood cancers.
Dr Ernestina Schandorf, a Peadiatric Oncology Fellow at the Unit, said unlike adult cancers, childhood cancers were 80 per cent curable and that reporting early signs aided effective treatment.
Cancer begins with genetic change in single cells that grow into a mass (or tumour), invades other parts of the body and causes harm and death if left untreated and can affect any part of the body.
She made the call during a media engagement as part of activities to commemorate this year’s childhood cancer awareness month.
Dr Schandorf stated that globally about 300,000 cases of cancer were recorded annually among children under 19 years with 80 per cent in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
In an estimated population of 30 million, it is expected that about 1000-1400 new diagnoses are made per year with about 80,000 deaths.
She said even though Ghana did not have national data to that effect, it was clear that a chunk of children with cancer were not reported, thus the need for continuous education on the disease.
The Peadiatric Oncology Fellow, advised parents to seek medical help immediately for persistent symptoms like white spot in the eye, new squint, bulging eyeball, lump in abdomen and pelvis, head and neck, testes and glands.
She also asked parents to report unexplained prolonged fever for over two weeks, loss of weight, pallor, fatigue, ach in bones, joints, back and easy tractures as well as change in walk balance or speech, regression of milestones, and headache for more than a week, because it could be cancer.
Professor Lorna A. Renner, the Head of Peadiatric Oncology Unit, KBTH, encouraged parents not to see childhood cancer as a death sentence because early detection was assurance of effective treatment.
She commended the Government for making the National Health Insurance Scheme cover four cancer treatments.
They are leukemia, Retinoblastoma, lymphoma and kidney.
GNA