We are working with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to improve diagnosis and treatment for children with cancer in Ghana. The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is one of two tertiary hospitals in Ghana which diagnose at best only 200 cases a year. This means that over 75% of children with cancer remain undiagnosed and untreated. Child cancer is becoming an increasing health concern in Ghana as child mortality rates from infectious diseases and malaria have reduced. The project has been developed in partnership with AfrOx.

Major Challenges

• Ghana has only one trained paediatric oncology doctor and no specialist nurses.  
• Survival rates are very low but exact rate is not known because there is no national registry of child. 
• Under diagnosis is a major problem with around 800 children going undiagnosed.
• 20% of children are diagnosed too late for curative treatment.
• Around 50% of patients fail to complete the full course of treatment.
• There is no national child cancer registry to assess the problem accurately and provide a basis for research and follow up treatment.
• Parents are often unable to afford chemotherapy or pain relief drugs. 

"The most important message to remember is that childhood cancer can be cured provided that known effective treatments are available, affordable and utilised"
Dr Lorna Awo Renner, Project Leader

Project Objectives

• To increase survival rates to above 50% for easily treatable, diagnosed cancers. 
• To improve diagnosis and access to treatment.  
• To create a new centre of excellence in paediatric oncology at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
• To develop long term sustainability for paediatric oncology treatment in Ghana.
• To develop a national model of cancer care for children in Ghana – the first in Africa.      

What is World Child Cancer doing to help?

• World Child Cancer and AfrOx have established a twinning partnership between the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
• The project will provide specialist paediatric oncology training for doctors and nurses.
• Diagnosis will be improved by establishing four satellite centres with trained staff.  
• A national child cancer registry will be established to assess the extent of the problem and provide valuable information for future research.   
• Funding will be provided for chemotherapy and palliative care drugs.  
• Advice and guidance will be provided on advocacy for increased cancer funding in Ghana. 

If you are a healthcare professional with specialist paediatric oncology expertise and interested in getting involved in one of our projects please click here to contact us.

Key Facts

• Ghana is a lower middle income country with a per capita income of US $1,230 
• Ghana has a population of approximately 24 million people.   Around 1,000 cases of childhood cancer are expected a year although only a small proportion are diagnosed  
• Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is one of two tertiary hospitals in Ghana 
• There is a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection and in the last 10 years there has been significant progress in reducing the mortality rate of under-5’s  
• Burkitts lymphoma is the most common childhood cancer in Ghana accounting for around half of all cases   

Accra, Ghana

Project Centre: Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra
Project leader: Dr Lorna Renner
Twinning Centres: Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, UK
Start Date: September 2010
Length of Project: 5 years
Funding From World Child Cancer: £75,000 plus additional funding from AfrOx