Eighty-eight-year old Margaret Kaliika is a breast cancer survivor. Ten years ago, a lump found in her breast tested positive for cancer. The lump was removed and she was put on a five-year treatment plan.
Although the treatment cost her family a lot of money, she said she is lucky she went for screening early.
Kaliika is now a change agent in her community in the central Ugandan district of Nakaseke where women consult her on what to do.
“I always encourage them to go for screening, some accept while others don’t take it seriously,” she told Xinhua in a recent interview.
As the world commemorates World Cancer Day on Feb. 4, the Ugandan government is urging its citizens to emulate people like Kaliika and go for cancer screening, noting that the disease can be prevented and when it is in its early stages, it can be cured.
CANCER BURDEN
Figures from Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), a government hospital, show that in out of every 100,000 people, 350 of them are new cancer patients. Ten years ago, out of every 100,000 people, 250 were new cancer cases.
Jackson Orem, head of UCI, told reporters on Friday ahead of the World Cancer Day commemorations that 80 percent of the new cancer cases end up dying in the first year of screening because they come when the disease is in its advanced stages.
Orem said there are about 250,000 cancer cases in the country currently.
UCI also attracts cancer patients from neighboring countries stretching as far as Somalia, according to Orem. He said 10-15 percent of the patients at the Institute are from neighboring countries.
“This is partly because Uganda has a fairly well developed system of treatment of cancer that is accessible to everybody. That stretches the system but we cannot run away from our responsibilities,” Orem said.
The common cancers in the country are cancer of the cervix, breast cancer, prostate cancer and Leukemia especially in children.
Joyce Moriku Kaducu, minister of state for health in charge of primary health care, said cancer deaths are more compared to those of tuberculosis and HIV combined.
SCALE OUT
Kaducu said the government has embarked on a countrywide awareness campaign against cancer.
She said there is evidence that 30 percent to 50 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented by modifying or avoiding key risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful consumption of alcohol, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets and obesity.
“More than one third of cancer cases can be prevented. Another third can be cured if detected early and treated properly,” she said.
The ministry of health, according to Kaducu, has prioritized cancer control by ensuring that communities are educated on how to prevent cancer, access cancer screening and treatment services including palliative care everywhere in the country.
She said more health workers are going to be trained up to the sub country level where by the workers can be able to do cancer screening and refer patients in case they are suspected of having the disease.
She said four regional centers across the country are going to be opened to treat cancer patients and also carryout screening and awareness campaigns against the disease in remote areas.
One center in the western part of the country is already in operation and is handling over 20,000 cancer patients, according to the ministry of health.
At UCI, the government has procured another radiotherapy machine, supplementing other two machines. The institute has also received increased funding from government, leading to availability and accessibility of cancer treatment medicines.
A center of excellence for cancer treatment in east and central Africa has been established at UCI with support from African Development Bank. Minister Kaducu said the establishment of the center of excellence will reduce on the number of referrals abroad for cancer treatment. Enditem
