SG Cancer Foundation Team Visits Project Site for Mothers Hostel, KorleBu

The SG Cancer Foundation team paid a visit to the Mother’s Hostel project. The hostel project was initiated by the Ghana Parents Association for Childhood Cancer with support from the First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, through The Rebecca Foundation. The hostel, designed to house 30 adults and 30 children, is located in Korle-Bu. The two-storey hostel, when completed, is expected to ease the stress of childhood cancer parents’ by providing them with accommodation to enable them to cater for their children while they undergo regular chemotherapy treatment at the hospital. However, the project has stalled due to lack of funds and an appeal was made by Prof. Lorna Renner for benevolent organisations and individuals to support the Project.

SG Cancer Foundation indicated that they would increase efforts to raise funds, to enable them to provide support for the treatment of children with cancer and also for the hostel project.

MOBILE CLINIC

Part of our goal is to raise funds to equip a fully resourced mobile clinic, which can go to rural areas to provide early detection opportunities and awareness to persons who cannot afford the fees charged by our traditional hospitals.

EARLY DETECTION AND SUPPORT CENTER

As part of SG Cancer Foundation’s 5-year strategy, we are developing a comprehensive Early Detection and Support Center (EDS) for all cancers. This project is in line with the organisations objective of improving life expectancy and quality of life in cancer patients. Research has proven that prevention and early detection of cancers is the key to improving life expectancy for people who suffer from this disease.

Our recent collaboration with the Haematology Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital re-emphasised the importance of early detection, as well as improving awareness and providing a wider range of options for people to have cancers detected early enough to improve life expectancy.

In line with this, our resolve has been strengthened to raise funds to support this project, and we expect to use the next three (3) years (2019 – 2022) to raise funds to support the development of an Early Detection Center, which will provide a wide range of diagnostics focused specifically on cancers, and the various markers required to indicate the presence of cancers. We also want to provide testing for the detection of cancers, which are currently provided outside Ghana. We hope to make this more accessible to persons in Ghana.

The EDS is expected to provide:

  • awareness and counselling units,
  • an Early Detection Center with a wide range of tests (including CT scans, MRIs, testing for blood markers) to enable detection of cancers.

The EDS would be developed in phases comprising the development of the centre, equipping the centre, and providing qualified medical personnel to provide services all year round. SG Cancer Foundation is expecting to raise a minimum of USD10 million over the period to make this happen.