By Memuna Asumah
As part of effort in healthcare accessible to reduce infant mortality, the government of Ghana has added childhood cancer onto the free healthcare program under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
This means that, the bills of any child-related cancer treatment at any accredited NHIS facility will be covered by the Scheme, as disclosed by Majority Chief Whip Annor Dompreh during a debate in Parliament recently.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 1200 children under the age of 15 are estimated to develop cancer annually in Ghana. 8 out of 10 children diagnosed with cancer will survive the disease if it is detected early and access to treatment and care are available.
However, in resource-constrained countries like Ghana, the reverse has been true,
“Only 20% of children diagnosed with cancer survive”, WHO shared in its ‘Beating childhood cancer’ Fact-sheet. “For many, the cost of treatment was prohibitive – as high as US$ 7000 for up to three years treatment for leukaemia. In low-income countries only 30% of patients access treatment.”
To save lives and reduce suffering of children with cancer, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Initiative for Childhood Cancers (GICC) was launched in 2018 and Ghana been one of the six countries globally where the initiative has started up.
Health workers at Korle-Bu receive technical support, in addition to monitoring and surveillance tools from WHO.
Until recently, treatment for childhood cancer was not included in the Ghana National Health Insurance scheme. Some components of care such as diagnostics and supportive care free. The benefit package includes Burkitt’s lymphoma (bone marrow cancer often found in the jaw), Wilms’ tumour (cancer of the kidney), retinoblastoma (cancer of the back of the eye) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (cancer of the blood) are now covered under the NHIS.
The First Lady of Ghana, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, announcing the addition of childhood cancers to the national health scheme emphasized that, “It is cost effective, feasible and can improve survival of children with cancers.
“Our children deserve to live long productive lives, to enable them to compete successfully with any other child in the world.”
In Ghana, 42% of children with cancer are accessing treatment and since 2018, 85% of children complete a full round, that is up from 50% in 2010.
