Sifelani Tsiko recently in Nairobi, Kenya
Africa must invest in cancer diagnostic technology to improve the treatment and care of growing cancer patients on the continent, a Kenyan doctor says.
Dr Ahmed Komen, a Kenyan oncologist, told journalists attending the Second African Conference of Science Journalists who had visited the Aga Khan University Hospital Heart and Cancer Centre recently that investing in cutting edge cancer diagnostic technology will help reduce the growing burden of cancer on the continent.

“At this hospital we have two linear accelerator radiotherapy machines which cost anything between US$4 million and $5 million. Investing in cancer technology is quite critical for Africa,” he said.

“With cancer diagnostic technology combined with proper treatment modalities, the success rate for treating cancer can be much higher.

“If patients come early, our success rates are higher and this can ease the burden of the disease here in Kenya and Africa as a whole.”

The Aga Khan University Hospital, a private sector healthcare institution, has the latest cancer diagnostic technology which is helping in the treatment of cancer patients.

Over 41 000 Kenyans are diagnosed with cancer every year and Aga Kahn University Hospital cancer programmes manager, Mr David Makumi, said two-thirds of these patients die each year.

“Cancer is a serious issue and diagnosis needs to be made on time,” he said.

“Early diagnosis is critical in the management of cancer.

“Our healthcare institutions at times prolong the diagnosis of cancer.”

He said investing in cancer technology, human resources and improving the care and treatment offered to cancer patients was critical for the management of the disease.

Dr Shahin Sayed, a pathologist at the Aga Khan University Hospital, said African countries needed to invest more in laboratory infrastructure to enhance access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and research.

“We are receiving samples from Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and other countries in the east African region. We are also having to treat most patients from these countries and it is important to do cancer testing on site to determine the type of cancer and also speed up detection,” she said.

She said the hospital handles more than 20 000 samples for cancer testing every year.

“To set up a basic laboratory you need up US$150 000 and this is something our countries need to look at,” Dr Sayed said. “For some expensive machines we are having to use an operate and pay as you go approach. This is done in partnership with equipment suppliers and it is something we continue to explore here at this hospital.”

In most African countries, cancer services are failing to meet growing demand due to lack of adequate equipment, decades of under-investment alongside outdated practices which have reduced survival rates for patients on the continent. Cancer treatment and care is lagging behind the rest of the world due to poor investment in cancer technology and laboratory infrastructure.

In addition, oncologists bemoan that the poor are still far more likely to get cancer than the rich and their chances of survival are lower too.

Furthermore, they say, there are too many variations in the quality of care and treatment across Africa, leaving cancer patients frustrated by poor service delivery and lack of laboratory infrastructure.

According to the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the global death toll from cancer rose to 8,2 million, and breast cancer killed 522 000 women in 2012.

A total of 14,1 million adults in the world were diagnosed with cancer in 2012 while out of this there were 8,2 million deaths from cancer worldwide in the same period.

Africa and most other developing countries continue to record high cancer deaths because the disease is often not detected and diagnosed early enough due to a lack of screening and access to treatment.

Cervical cancer, for example, kills hundreds of thousands of women in Africa each year but can be largely avoided with a vaccine or successfully treated if it is detected early enough.

In Zimbabwe, cancer is now the second biggest killer disease after HIV and official health figures indicate that the disease is killing at least 1 500 every year.

Out of this figure, 80 percent of the victims visit health institutions late for treatment when the disease is already at an advanced stage. Oncologists in Zimbabwe attributed this to either poverty or lack of knowledge about the disease.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 34,8 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed per 100 000 women annually, and 22,5 women per 100 000 die from the disease while the rates stand at 6,6 and 2,5 per 100 000 women respectively in North America.

Oncologists say Africa needs to scale up strategies for tackling cancer by increasing the number of healthcare personnel, providing more equipment for cancer care and modernizing cancer treatment and care to meet global standards.

 

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