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The Government has announced plans to set aside Sh3.4 billion each year for cancer screening to boost the fight against the killer disease.
Head of the Directorate of Curative Services at the Health ministry, Izaq Odongo, made the revelation while addressing delegates attending an international cancer conference in Nairobi.
"We hope to expand cancer care services in Kenya by constructing three more centres in the country," Dr Odongo revealed.
He added however, that 80 per cent of cancer cases present late due to poverty, among other reasons.
Dr Najmu Adamali, a consultant radiologist said Kenyatta National Hospital, being a national facility, has failed to train enough personnel to handle cancer cases.
Speaking on the economics of cancer, Dr Khama Rogo, head of the Health in Africa Initiative and lead specialist at the International Finance Corporation said cancer kills more people more than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Ann Korir, head of the Nairobi Cancer Registry at the Kenya Medical Research Institute stressed the need to advocate for more resources to support cancer registries in the country.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 30 per cent of deaths are due to five leading behavioural and dietary risks such as high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity and tobacco and alcohol use.
Cancer-causing viral infections are responsible for up to 20 per cent of cancer deaths in low and middle-income countries, WHO says.
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