As part of activities marking the World Cancer day, the Sweden Ghana Medical Centre (SGMC) organized an empowerment conference for cancer patients in Ghana.
The programme dubbed the “Empowerment to Live: Surviving the Cancer journey” seeks to share patient stories, expose cancer myths and improve the quality of life for the overall survival of several current cancer patients in Ghana.
There was an engagement of people who have had cancer and have undergone treatment both locally and foreign. These individuals shared their experience with current cancer patients in Ghana.
According to data from 2008 compiled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, there were about 715,000 new cancer cases and 542,000 cancer deaths that occurred in Africa alone that year.
Researchers have predicted that these numbers would double (1.28 million new cancer cases and 970,000 cancer-related deaths) by 2020 simply due to the ageing and growth of the African population.
Researchers have also indicated that the numbers would potentially be even higher because Africans are adopting behaviours and lifestyles associated with economic development, such as smoking, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.”
SOURCE:
CITINEWSROOM
