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Statistics at the Kumasi Cancer Registry indicate that breast and cervical cancers are the leading cancers among females in the Kumasi metropolis, while cancer of the liver dominates among the male population.

According to the Director of the registry, Dr Baffour Awuah, the three cancers were also among the 10 top cancers recorded in the metropolis.

He said out of a total of 532 cancer cases treated last year, breast cancer topped with 250 cases, representing 23. 4 per cent of the cases, cervical cancer, 164 cases; representing 15.3 per cent and liver cancers 105, representing 9.8 per cent.

Other cancers
Dr Awuah, who announced this during an interaction with the media, mentioned other cancers recorded in the metropolis as prostate, gland, ovary, stomach, bone marrow, endometrium, urinary bladder and lung cancer, which he said, had dominated cancer cases treated within the Kumasi metropolis over the past three years.

Dr Awuah explained that even though most of the facilities where the data was gathered attended to more people, the study was purely for people living within the Kumasi metropolis.

He said data was collected from both public and private facilities from the Bantama, Subin, Asokwa, Manhyia North and South sub-metros of the metropolis.

This, he explained, was to ensure that the study covered almost the entire metropolis.

Rationale
According to Dr Awuah, the cancer registry would help the health directorate in the region to have an idea about the leading cancers in the metropolis and to design interventions to tackle them.

He said it would also guide researches into some of these cancers and organise outreach programmes for the patients.

History
Dr Awuah explained that there were two types of cancer registries, namely; population and facility registries. While the facility registry collected and analysed data of a health facility, the population registry collected and analysed data of the population within an area.

He said the Kumasi Cancer Registry started as a department registry in 2004, became a hospital registry in 2006 and was converted into a population registry in 2012. This, he said, had been possible through the support of the University of Michigan and the African Cancer Registry Network.

Challenges
 Although the registry had been operational for a while, Dr Awuah said it lacked staffing and had to rely on other staff of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for its operations.

He said the registry" does not have an office space and adequate funds. We have been depending on research grants to pay some of the staff."

He called for the establishment of more cancer registries in the country, particularly in Accra and Tamale to enable the country monitor the cancer cases and tackle them with the appropriate interventions.