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Kenya lost 27, 092 people to cancer last year, a new cancer report shows. The Globocan 2020, a World Health Organisation (WHO) online tool for research on cancer shows that the country also recorded 42, 116 new cancer cases over the same period, out of which a paltry 36 per cent representing 15, 024 being the only ones likely survive.
From the report, women are most hit with 26, 550 comprising all ages being diagnosed with the disease last year alone. In the same year, 15, 556 males of all ages positively diagnosed with cancer.
National Cancer Institute (NCI) chief executive officer Dr Alfred Karagu said cancer patients require the best care if deaths and the rising cases of cancer in the country are to be averted.
“We have seen a general upward trend of the number of cases, showing that there is a bit of awareness now, with more people coming out for diagnosis, an increased capacity for diagnosis in the public and private sector. We have seen a rise in the number of cancer cases globally.
And this explains why we are able to see those numbers of fatalities and prevalence more clearly,” Karagu said
Awareness campaigns
He said there is a need for more awareness campaigns to reduce the number of patients going for cancer diagnosis with about 70 percent of them seeking treatment when the disease is at an advanced stage.
For instance he said for cervical cancer, there are only 16 percent and 11 percent of Kenyans who are screened for the disease annually.
“We are encouraging the survivors, those who have gone through the cancer journey to be able to advocate among Kenyans the importance of early diagnosis.
We have found out that the chances of being managed; treated and getting cured and surviving to continue with normal life, are much higher,” he said, raising concerns that the percentage of those going out for screening is low.
According to the Globocan 2020, an estimated 6, 799 of women of all ages were diagnosed with breast cancer last year.
The disease causes 4,500 deaths annually. The report shows that cancer of the cervix was second with 5, 286 new cases of women diagnosed last year.
Prostate cancer, a leading cause of death among men, Globocan 2020 reports that 3, 412 males of all ages were diagnosed for the disease last year followed by Oesophagus (cancer of the throat) at 2, 974.
The country recorded 1, 798 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (a group of blood cancers) cases last year; 1, 781 stomach cancers followed by Leukemia at 1, 579 with 1, 546 colon and 1, 126 ovary cancers being diagnosed in the same period.
A group of survivors who turned up yesterday to mark the National Cancer Survivors Day in Nairobi attributed the latest statistics to a number of aspects.
Treatment cost
The survivors are calling on the government to subsidise or even scrap the treatment cost of cancer and make it free so that people like Paul Njoroge Mwangi from Karai Division in Kikuyu who is battling diabetes and prostate cancer, be able to navigate the difficult journey.
Jane Frances, the Secretary General and founder of the Cancer Survivors Association of Kenya (CSAK) attributed cost of diagnosis; treatment and management of cancer as one of the main causes.
“We have come here to celebrate the cancer survivors day, but even as we are doing so, I have many patients in hospital, some are at home because they can’t afford the Sh6, 000 they are being told to pay two years upfront, and even tougher for those in informal settlements who cannot raise the Sh500 monthly payment to National Hospital Insurance Fund,” she said.
Mary Mwangi, who turns 50 this year, is completely healed after she was diagnosed with spine and breast cancers in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
When asked about the cost, she said it was not easy as she had to depend on well wishers to raise more than Sh3 million approximately.
“When you are diagnosed, be positive and you will be healed,” she said, explaining that most of the people who die are negative once they get diagnosed with cancer.
She has five years now since she was diagnosed and successfully went through treatment.
Njoroge, a 75-year old patient, saw his wife lose the fight against pancreatic cancer in January this year, even after selling all his property and other assets.
“I sold all I had; my goats and other properties, but it all went down the drain when I lost my wife,” said Njoroge who fought tears having been asked to tabulate the cost of the treatment that he has undergone through.
In 2019 for instance, according to a World Bank survey, NHIF cover included reimbursement of Sh25,000 per chemotherapy session.
