Cervical cancer cases surge, 54 recorded in first half of 2025

An alarming 54 cases of cervical cancer have been recorded in the Volta Region between January to July this year. This figure, according to the Ghana Health Service, shows an increasing trend in the number of cases as against 86 cases reported for the whole of 2024. Since 2016, the region has had 500 reported cases of cervical cancer with health officials sounding alarm bells about the potential impact this could have on the region’s female population.

“These figures are cases that have reported at our health facilities but there could be more out there; there are people that will have the discharge but because of stigma, they’re very sick but they will not come and report,” Deputy Director Public Health, Dr. Hectoria Aweyeka told 3news on September 29.

In the midst of this worrying development, the Ghana Health Service is embarking on a vaccination campaign to immunize female children between the ages of 9-14 against the Human Papillomavirus. Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. By Atsu Dodor, at a stakeholder engagement ahead for the vaccination campaign slated for 7th to 11th October, 2025 said it is important parents take up the challenge to available their children for the immunization.

“By vaccinating girls early, we give these young girls the gift of primary prevention, long before the risk of disease starts,” he emphasized.

The exercise which forms part of a nationwide program is targeted at a total 115,025 girls in the Volta Region. With the region noted for high prevalence of vaccine hesitancy, the Ghana Health Service has since begun a series of stakeholder engagements to mobilize the public ahead of the campaign. The disease is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in Ghana.

Data from the Ghana Health Service indicate that nearly 2,800 new cases and 1,700 deaths occurred in 2020. Though the disease is preventable and treatable, approximately 70% of women with cervical cancer are diagnosed when their tumours have progressed to advanced stages.

Source: 3newsonline.com