Healthier & Happier Life Foundation (HHLF) is a not-for-profit organization aimed at promoting preventive medicine, advocating for quality healthcare and equity in access to good health. HHLF believes that by bringing health to people through innovative strategies and building individual, community and organizational/institutional capacities will not only prevent death but reduce economic, physical, social and psychological burdens that come with ill health and thereby improving quality of life. HHLF has had many successful advocacies as well as awareness creations/health education programs across different areas of health, both in the rural and urban settings. HHLF is currently carrying out a nationwide advocacy and awareness creation on cervical cancer in Ghana with major partners including Members of Parliament (MPs).
Our strategies include the infusion of arts into science by using theatre for development (drama), community participatory programs, peer educator programs, educational programs) and audiovisuals in order to help break cultural, language, educational and socioeconomic barriers to healthy living. The Foundation also seeks to empower cancer patients in Ghana in order to improve their quality of life and survival. The maiden national empowerment conference is on the 4th of February, 2020 (World Cancer Awareness Day).
This conference responds to a real need in Ghana as more than 22,800 people are diagnosed of cancer and as many as 15,089 die from it yearly. The most dominant of these cancers include breast (4,645), cervical cancer (3,151), liver (2,753), prostate (2,132) and colorectum (cancer of colon, rectum and anus) (1,228). The deaths associated with these cancers include: liver (2,737), cervical cancer (2119), breast (1871), prostate (1098) and colorectum (824). Liver cancer remains number one cause of cancer death (99% mortality rate) across both sexes while cervical (67% mortality rate) and prostate (52% mortality rate) cancers are leading causes of cancer death among the Ghanaian women and men respectively. While quality of life and survival for most of these cancers diagnosed at same stage in developed countries remain high, that cannot be said of Ghana. This difference can be attributed to many factors. Evidence shows that many cancer patients abscond during treatment.
Available data from Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) shows that less than 50% of the total number of cases referred to the hospital in a year complete their treatment. This often happens not because of the cost of care nor the medical services but as a result of social and behavioral issues. There continues to be inaccuracy and inadequacy of information regarding cancer treatment including its dos and don’ts. This renders many individuals diagnosed of cancer at the mercies of negative information from friends, relatives, counselors, spiritualists, healers and fake sites. This therefore deter individuals from treatment and compromise their chances of survival. Many resort to herbal treatment instead of orthodox until later stage when they see no hope in the herbal. Many combine the herbal and other chemicals in addition to the orthodox. This causes complex chemical interactions and therefore does not lead to better outcome. Many also forego completely the treatment procedure for spiritual interventions either in churches or traditional settings, which results in awful outcomes. However, cancer is increasingly developing among the younger population. We realized through our engagements with individuals diagnosed of cancer over the years that many people wish to see others who had successful treatment and have better outcome to serve as motivation to them. Many want to know the strategies these individuals adopted that enabled them the chance of healthy life. Based on these many issues confronting people and families, HHLF seeks to empower the current cohort of cancer patients receiving treatment at the KBTH and Sweden Ghana Medical Centre in order to help improve their quality of life and their overall survival.
The strategy for this conference include: 1) engagement of people who had cancer, undergone treatment and are living healthily for the past ten or more years. 2) these individuals will include a) people who had treatment locally (Ghana), b) those who had treatment outside Ghana and c) those who had treatment both in Ghana and outside Ghana as resource people 3) these individuals will share their experiences with the current cohort of cancer patients and serve as hope to them We however acknowledge that we cannot achieve this goal without partnership. This is the first time a conference of this nature is being organized in Ghana. It therefore presents with greater opportunity for our partners to champion and enhance their individual and corporate brands/goals in this arena of health. We are therefore opened to partnership and/or support to enable the success of this project.