Accra, March 11, GNA – The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has joined the cervical cancer prevention campaign embarked on by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult).
CDA Consult is a development communication advocacy non-governmental organisation based in Tema.
Its Cervical Cancer Change Paradigm Advocacy campaign hinges on four pillars: free cervical cancer vaccination, scaling up prevention, encouraging screening for early detection, and support for treatment towards the elimination of cervical cancer in Ghana by 2030.
In a joint statement issued with the CDA Consult, Mr. Michael Kofi Andoh, Acting Commissioner of Insurance, said the Cervical Cancer Paradigm Advocacy was within the commission’s mandate to ensure effective protection for insurance policyholders and the insurance industry, as some of the women could be policy holders or potential policy holders.
Mr Andoh said the ultimate objective of NIC was to establish an efficient, fair, safe, and stable insurance market that promoted healthy competition and growth in the interest of policyholders for the benefit of all, also considered the well-being of each Ghanaian as critical, hence the need to support initiatives to protect women and girls from cervical cancer.
He said the NIC believed that one way of developing transparency in the Ghana Insurance Market was to increase public awareness about insurance issues and the operations of the NIC. Therefore, the CDA Consult Cervical Cancer Change Paradigm Advocacy campaign, which is a five-year nationwide campaign, would serve as another vehicle to reach the public on insurance issues.
Dr. Chris Kpodar, a member of the Board of Directors of the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult), emphasised that vaccines against cancer-causing strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) were highly effective and should be part of a national effort to get all young women vaccinated.
He outlined that routine screening and treatment of lesions prevented cancer, stressing that building cervical cancer prevention into critical health programmes, like those for family planning and HIV/AIDS, created a cost-effective one-stop shop, ensuring women can live long, healthy lives.
Dr. Kpodar, who is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Investments Ghana Limited, stated that, as part of efforts by CDA Consult, a holistic cervical cancer change paradigm advocacy had been rolled out to help raise awareness on the problem and deal with it.
Dr. Kpodar, who is a former United Nations consultant for Africa and the Middle East, reiterated that knowledge and technology existed to eliminate cervical cancer using effective, low-cost methods, even in the poorest parts of the globe, including Ghana.
He re-echoed the World Health Organization (WHO) call for the elimination of cervical cancer deaths but stressed that, unfortunately, so much stood in the way between political commitments and a world where women lived free of cervical cancer.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Executive Director, CDA Consult, said the campaign was seeking to foster the development of cutting-edge cervical cancer prevention technologies and strategies, stressing that CDA Consult was joining forces with global advocates to make the case on behalf of the women who needed the programmes.
Mr. Ameyibor said the means to prevent and treat cervical cancer were effective, affordable, and, with sufficient political and financial support, it could work effectively to eliminate it by 2030.
He also explained that the advocacy would combine proactive advocacy skills and strong communication networks to congregate health professionals, human rights advocates, gender activists, religious adherents, and communication practitioners to embark on a new paradigm.
GNA