Ghana has targeted to reduce deaths from cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases by 25 percent within the next seven years, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Health Minister, has announced.

About 90,000 deaths in the country annually, are caused by hypertension, diabetes, cancer, stroke and chronic kidney diseases.

The Minister said the figure was too high - could not continue and should be rolled back.

He added that the government had sought technical and financial assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other development partners to achieve just that.

Addressing a stakeholders’ meeting in Kumasi, as part of a day’s working visit to the metropolis, he labeled the non-communicable diseases as a “silent killer” and said an all-inclusive approach would be need to tackle those diseases.

The meeting coincided with the launch of the ‘Kumasi City Cancer Project’ and provided the platform to discuss effective and more practical ways to deal with the diseases, which had become a major health concern.

It brought together health professionals from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), School of Medical Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana Health Services, private medical practitioners and the general public.

Mr. Agyemang-Manu underlined the need for sustained public education to help everybody to do the right things.

They should be assisted to stay away from unhealthy lifestyles that could predispose them to non-communicable diseases.

He said he was thrilled by the decision of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to select Kumasi to host a cancer project, something that would raise the quality of care and cancer treatment.

Mr. Agyemang-Manu pledged the government’s strong support for the project to save cancer patients.