By: Emmanuel Oti Acheampong
A Public Health Nurse and Midwife at Elimmas Health, Akua Oduro Nuamah has admonished women to seek early HPV DNA testing in order to know their cervical cancer status.
She made this statement on GTV’s Breakfast Show.
Cervical cancer, a silent health killer which is claiming more lives than hunger and poverty in Ghana has been put on awareness for the month of January and one safest way to go about it is the HPV DNA Test.
The test, which is self-sampling with the use of the swab stick according to Madam Akua Nuamah, will help one know their status and how to go about the treatment and prevention.
According to the Public Health Nurse, some women have stronger systems that can oppose and fight the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), but since the virus has silence traits and can be hidden within the cervix for ten to fifteen years before its effects gets visible, it is imminent that one seeks early test because it is difficult to randomly know women with such strong system and those without the strong system.
She further added that the disease can be contracted through sex and men can also be infected though men do not have cervix, they develop rashes around their penile region which can be due to oral or anal sex.
She also pleaded with the government to introduce the basic testing onto the National Health Insurance Scheme to make it easy and accessible to everyone in the country.
