Preventing Cancer for Women in Ghana

Dear Friends and Supporters, 

In our last update we shared with you that although the supplies and equipment you have donated would not be able to initiate the cervical cancer screening and treatment program in the Upper West Region, we had identified two potential hospitals that could still greatly benefit from the supplies. We are now excited to share with you that the supplies and equipment will be donated to the Ridge Hospital in Accra, Ghana! This hospital currently has a cervical cancer unit, but has not previously been able to offer cryotherapy treatment for pre-cancerous lesions. With the cryotherapy set that you generously fundraised for, along with the other valuable supplies and equipment purchased, they will be able to expand their program significantly and provide better cervical cancer screening and treatment to many women in the Accra area. The Ridge Hospital serves a large population of women at risk for cervical cancer and we are glad that your efforts will help them provide services and prevent cervical cancer among more of these women. 

We are also excited to share that the cervical cancer program at the Ridge Hospital is under the stewardship of Dr. Fofie! The Ghana Health Service assigned him to the Ridge Hospital as part of his placement in Accra. After realizing that there was not someone in the Upper West Region to take over the program, we began looking for hospitals in other parts of Ghana where we could trust the supplies would be used well and still provide a great benefit. Dr. Fofie initiated the entire process of starting a cervical cancer program in the Upper West Region and after learning how the supplies would still be able to reach a large population in need through the Ridge Hospital, we felt it very fitting that he supplies and equipment would still be entrusted to him. We are confident he will put them to good use improving the health of many women in Accra. 

Additionally, we had our first GlobalGiving site visit last month! Alix met with Dr. Fofie and Akcom Amuquandoh, MedPLUS Connect's In-Country Director, in Accra in July. She was able to discuss the relocation of the program and provide us with some valuable feedback to help improve the implementation of the program. We are so appreciative to Alix and the entire GlobalGiving team for the site visit process and wanted to end our update with a statement Alix shared with us after the visit: ""I'm very excited to see the impact that MedPLUS will have on women in Accra!"

We look forward to providing you another update on the expansion of the cervical cancer program at the Ridge Hospital in Accra soon! 

Thank you,

Anna 

Dear Friends and Supporters, 

As we shared in our last update, Dr. Fofie was reassigned by the Ghana Health Service and is no longer the OBGYN at the Wa Regional Hospital in the Upper West Region. We were crestfallen to learn that Dr. Fofie could no longer lead the initiation of the Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment Program and have been working diligently to find a suitable replacement physician to lead this initiative for the Upper West Region. However, we have not been able to do so.

The reason why there is no physician available to take over the program is the same reason why we wanted to start this program in the Upper West Region; it is a very underserved region without much needed health services. The shortage of physicians is felt throughout Ghana, but especially so in more rural regions such as the Upper West. Until a new OBGYN physician is assigned to the Upper West Region, there is no one with the ability to implement a program of this scale.

Although we are deeply saddened that we will not be able to initiate the Cervical Cancer Screening in Treatment in the Upper West Region at this time, we want to reassure you that the funds raised and the supplies purchased for this purpose will not go to waste. Rates of cervical cancer are high among women in all regions of Ghana and the supplies we have purchased are highly valuable and beneficial to any hospital performing cervical cancer and treatment in Ghana. We have now identified two hospitals that serve a population of women in need in other regions of Ghana that have the capacity to lead this program. Once the selection is finalized, we look forward to sharing more information on the hospital, population and the next steps for putting the supplies and equipment purchased to good use.

Thank you,

Anna