Dr Hannah Naa Gogwe Ayettey, Consultant Oncologist at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, disclosed this during a cancer research symposium held to explore the unique features of African cancers for improved treatment outcomes.

Speaking at the event, which was organised under the auspices of Precision Medicine for Aggressive Breast Cancers (PMABC), she stressed the importance of collaborative research to enhance patient care and develop effective treatments across the continent.

“The mission of PMABC is to build the capacity of institutions and researchers across Sub-Saharan Africa to help reduce cancer burden through advanced research and delivery of care to diverse populations worldwide,” she stated.

Dr Ayettey, who also serves as the General Secretary of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC), noted that while genetic factors contribute to cancer prevalence in Africa, patients face severe socio-economic challenges and financial hardship due to the high cost of treatment.

She advised patients to seek early hospital care to avoid complications and called for increased awareness to encourage early detection and greater community involvement in care.

The symposium, themed “Catalysing Basic and Translational Cancer in Africa: Advancing Progress and Capacity Building”, was held in partnership with AORTIC.

It brought together experts and researchers to focus on high-burden cancers, including breast, cervical, prostate, colorectal, and oesophageal cancers.

Dr Miriam Mutebe, President of AORTIC, reiterated the importance of early diagnosis, saying, “Many cancer patients are potentially treatable and curable if diagnosed earlier.”

“Breast cancer is the most common diagnosis affecting young ladies in West Africa, but about 90 percent of the patients survive due to early detection,” she added.

Source: GNA

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The condition, believed to be the first in the country, is said to affect one out of 30,000 population in developed countries. The boy was diagnosed with the fatal genetic disease after his mother, a trader, detected his deteriorating handwriting.

The Head, Neuro-Developmental Clinic, Department of Child Health, KBTH, Professor Ebenezer Badoe, who made the diagnosis after several tests, however, said the disease was treatable.

He said the young boy could live a normal life through medication, but was concerned about the cost involved, saying the patient needed GH¢450 every month to stay alive.

Wilson’s disease

Wilson’s disease is an inherited disorder that causes too much copper to accumulate in the organs. It causes copper levels to build up in several organs, especially the liver, brain and eyes.

In Wilson’s disease, copper is not eliminated properly and instead accumulates, possibly to a life-threatening level. Symptoms typically begin between the ages of 12 and 23 and they include swelling, fatigue, abdominal pain and uncontrolled or poorly coordinated movements.

Treatment often includes medication that can prompt the organs to release copper into the bloodstream. Once it is in the bloodstream, it can then be eliminated from the body through the kidneys.

Diagnosis

Prof. Badoe said he became alarmed when he got into contact with the boy because mostly, the first symptom of the disease presented with jaundice before affecting the other organs such as the liver and kidney.

However, he said, although the boy did not contract jaundice, his condition had crossed the jaundice stage and entered his brains causing him to lose his motor skills, hence the deteriorating handwriting, and a change in his gait.

The pediatric neurologist said because the disease was rare and needed both parents to have the genes to be affected, he requested an advance genetic test for both parents and the child which was done in the United States of America (USA) at a cost of $8,000, with funding from a non-governmental organisation, Reg Disease Ghana.

He said the test came back positive for both parents, which confirmed that the boy was presented with an ‘Autosomal recessive inheritance’, which is the way a genetic trait or condition is passed down from parent to child.

Prof. Badoe said unlike sickle cell disease which was also an autosomal recessive inheritance disease, the condition was common among the population, and therefore, was easy for one to be diagnosed with it, unlike the Wilson’s disease, which he said, was a rare case.

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The facility when completed will undertake kidney transplants and render other services which will help reduce the need for Ghanaians to travel abroad to undergo such services.

Addressing the floor of parliament on Thursday, Mr Manu said, “The government has invested with the support of parliament by approving facilities for us in the construction of a 100-bed urology centre of excellence at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital which will be commissioned by the end of the first quarter next year 2024.”

Ahead of the construction of the centre, he said a team had been trained to carry out transplants at reduced cost adding that “they have already undertaken the first kidney transplantations successfully in the country and by our Ghanaian doctors.”

He stressed that this was among many initiatives the government was taking to help citizens battling kidney conditions.

The Health Minister is optimistic that the urology when constructed will make Ghana a hub for medical tourism.

Mr Manu’s address comes on the back of a recent dialysis crisis that occurred after the renal outpatient department at KBTH closed its doors over a GHȼ4 million cedis debt.

The facility was reopened to the public on Monday, November 6.

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