Health system barriers affect cancer screening services and treatments at health facilities in Kenya, a new cancer report reveals.
According to National Cancer Institute of Kenya report titled ‘Status of cancer in Kenya’, two out of three persons diagnosed with cancer succumb as 70 percent of persons diagnosed in advanced stages when cure is impossible.
Access to comprehensive cancer care in the country is very low at 23 per cent pointing to a grim picture on national efforts to wage an effective war against the disease.
“Only about 23 per cent of all cancer patients in Kenya access the cancer management services they need and with limited access to screening and early diagnostic services,” the report reads in part.
“Further, the available treatment modalities for cancer carry high costs that are protracted in the lifespan of the affected individual,” it added.
There are only three national comprehensive cancer treatment centres in Kenya at Kenyatta national hospital (KNH), Moi teaching referral hospital (MTRH), and Kenyatta University teaching referral and research hospital (KUTRRH).
Speaking at the inaugural national Cancer summit held in Nairobi on 2nd to 4th February, Prof Fredrick Chite, chief executive officer, international cancer Institute (ICI) said that screening of cancers should be covered by national health insurance fund (NHIF).
“NHIF should cover screening in all screen able cancers,” Prof Chite said adding that “most patients presenting themselves with lung cancer at the facilities because of lack of diagnosis are treated for drug resistance tuberculosis and multi-drug resistance tuberculosis.”
The illness affects Kenyans of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds but has a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable groups.
According to the report as of 2019, only 0.5 percent of the overall budget was spent on cancer despite the disease contributing to 10 percent of overall diseases burden in the country.
Cancer is the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.
Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.
A grim tally
Despite the huge burden of cancer in Kenya the Country is experiencing a dearth of cancer care specialists, the status of cancer care report revealed, currently the country has only 58 oncologists, 60 oncology nurses ,12 oncology pharmacists, 10 medical physicist, 27 radiotherapy technologists, and only two nuclear medicine physicists.
Nairobi, Nakuru, Kiambu, Machakos and Nyeri counties lead in cancer cases in Kenya.
On average, the country records about 47,887 new cancer cases yearly, with 32,500 deaths recorded annually.
Forty-six (46) per cent of the new cases are usually diagnosed at a very late stage in both men and women. More women (16.2 per cent) get to know of their cancer diagnosis much earlier than men (10.4 per cent).
On cancer-related complications, patients diagnosed with breast cancer are likely to get complications (15.9 per cent), followed by cervical cancer (13.3 per cent).
Oesophagus cancer is the leading cause of the disease-related deaths in Kenya at 15.6 per cent, followed by cervical cancer at 10.4 per cent, breast cancer (9.6 per cent) and liver cancer (9.1 per cent).
In terms of prevalence, breast cancer is the highest at 15.9 per cent, cervical cancer (13.3 per cent), esophagus 11.8 (per cent), prostate cancer (10.1 per cent), colorectal cancer (7.1 per cent) and stomach cancer (5.8 per cent).
The report further indicates that men are mostly affected by prostate cancer (23.7 per cent), followed by oesophagus cancer (15.9 per cent) and colorectal cancer (8.8 per cent).
Leukemia is the leading childhood cancer at 15 per cent, followed by brain tumor (11 per cent), lymphomas 10 per cent, kidney 10 per cent and nasopharynx at 7 per cent.
Cigarette use is the most important risk factor for cancer, however, cancer-causing infections, such as hepatitis and the human papilloma virus (HPV)—both preventable with vaccines—account for most of cancer cases.
