Oncology training for community nurses begin in Kumasi

By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah GNA

Kumasi, Aug 29, GNA – A project to provide community-based nurses with basic oncology training to assist rural women to access oncology services has been launched in Kumasi.

The goal is to adequately equip the nurses with the know-how for early diagnosis of breast and cervical cancers together with other non-communicable diseases for referral to the hospitals for further checks, examination and treatment. 

The other high point is that this would also help to engage more nurses at the community level.

It is being implemented by Breast Care International (BCI) in partnership with the Ministries of Health, Local Government, Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ghana Health Services and the National Youth Employment Programme.

The training of the first batch of 120 nurses drawn from the Eastern and Ashanti Regions, is underway at the Peace and Love Hospital, in Kumasi.

Mrs. Otiko Afisa Djaba, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said the oncology project was part of the government’s deliberate effort to use public/private partnerships to open up job opportunities while at the same promoting the health and well-being of women.

She indicated that the promotion of financial support, improvement of the health and social inclusion of women was the pivot of its gender mainstreaming agenda – to transform the lives of women in society.  

Mrs. Djaba expressed deep worry about the rise of breast and cervical cancers which she said was inflicting so much pain and claiming the lives of women, especially the poor and vulnerable in the rural communities.

It was in response to this that her Ministry was providing financial assistance under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) to support poor women to receive treatment for breast and cervical cancers, sickle cell, fistula and other diseases.

She said it would continue to give strong backing to the BCI to train more community-based oncology nurses to enable each district to establish breast and cervical cancers units to provide timely services.

She said the nationwide roll-out of the project would largely depend on the success of the pilot phase and called for the participants to take the training seriously in order to make positive impact - reduce deaths associated with breast and cervical cancers.

Dr. Mrs. Beatrice Wiafe Addai, President of BCI, noted that community-based nurses had greater role to play in the early detection and treatment of the cancers.

The first batch of the oncology trained nurses would form a nucleus to transform the nursing profession by moving from house-to-house in rural communities to provide professional examination and counseling services.

GNA

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