Globally, childhood cancer cases are estimated at 250,000 annually. About 30 per cent of children with cancer in developing countries received treatment and over 100,000 deaths from childhood cancer worldwide could be prevented annually if all children had equal access to diagnosis and treatment. Childhood Cancer is very expensive andĀ up to 40% of families abandon treatment mainly due toĀ the costs the families have to bear. Childhood Cancer is on the increase in Ghana with only two out of ten Children with Cancer surviving.
In order to prevent children who have little or no money from suffering with cancer, an International Paediatric Cancer Centre, the first of its kind in the world, is said to be built in Ghana as a center of excellence in cancer care on the African continent. The Centre is the first step of a broad global initiative against cancer being undertaken by the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation to enhance the rate of cure of cancer in children, through increasing equal access to comprehensive cancer care. It will also aim to provide medical services for children at no/low cost.
President of the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation, Dr. Tanya Trippett,Ā made this known on Monday, March 27, 2017, when she, together with a delegation from the Foundation, paid a courtesy visit to the President Nana Akufo-Addo. The 94-bed state-of-the-art, according to Dr. Trippett, will also serve as a teaching facility for medical professionals in Ghana and the continent, with the infrastructure of the hospital also designed to meet high international standards for delivery of quality cancer care for children.
She also explained that the Centre will factor in lodging facilities for patients and parents, in addition to the recruitment of visiting international medical professionals to aid in the training of medical professionals in the delivery of high-quality care. She further said that four of such Centres will be built across the world in four other continents, with the Centre in Ghana being the āflagship project.ā This is because the foundation aims at reducing the rate of cancer appearance in children and the world at large. She stated that the project will be completed within two years.
President Akufo-Addo, on his part, thanked Dr. Tanya Trippett and the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation for the gesture of their visit, and for making Ghana the first country in the world for the setting up of this ācritical piece of infrastructure.ā He further said that with the infrastructure, lesser children will suffer from cancer in Ghana and Africa.
He further said the project is a ābrilliant idea with immense benefits for our countryā, President Akufo-Addo noted that the International Paediatric Cancer Centre will ābridge the gap in the field of cancer care of childrenā in Ghana and in Africa as a whole.
It was confirmed that some 16 million new cases of cancer are expected globally by 2020 with 70 per cent occurring in developing countries. As a matter of fact, the rate of cancer reports keeps increasing daily. Hopes are high that this estimated figure for 2020 will drastically reduce with the international paediatric cancer centre built around the world.
