Medical practitioners at the Ear, Nose, and Throat Unit of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital are increasingly concerned about the rising number of head and neck cancer cases among young people in Ghana.
In response, the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Department at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has launched a sensitisation programme to raise awareness about head and neck cancers in the country.
According to the Head of the ENT Department and New Allied Surgery at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Kenneth Baidoo, this disturbing trend is largely attributed to smoking, alcoholism, and other related activities, which normally expose individuals to these cancers.
“We’re worried about head and neck cancers because, at the ENT Department, it is the commonest cause of death. Risk factors for the disease include smoking, alcohol ingestion and inappropriate sexual practices.”
“Primarily, tobacco has been identified as the primary cause of this condition which in essence has been modified, where you can chew, and snuff, and recently people have even started vaping, which they think is a more acceptable option. At the end of the day, the value is the same”. He said.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Oum Kalsoum Zakaria Adams, highlighted the strong link between Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and oral cancers.
She noted that some of these issues stem from changing sexual practices in recent times.
“Now, our sexual practices have changed and a lot of people are engaging in oral sex, which makes you easily pre-disposed to HPV causing these cancers. So to guard against this, ensure that you’re using your condoms, and remaining faithful to one sexual partner”.
Dr Kofi Agyemang shared the challenges faced in treating the disease and emphasised the need for public education on the topic to ensure prompt medical attention.
“One of the commonest constraints when it comes to this disease is financial constraints, because treatment of cancer is quite expensive and currently it’s not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme, so a lot of people are not able to afford so that delays their cancer which causes it to grow and spread more rapidly.”
“Aside from that we have a lot of patients but no resources available to train them, so we need more surgeons, radiotherapy centres and chemotherapy which are the modalities used to treat cancers. Also, more education is needed on this so that persons can know how it presents”. He added.