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Act on cancer, First Ladies demand

Health & Science
 President Uhuru Kenyatta is received by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta (right) and other African First Ladies during the official opening of the 9th Stop Cancer Conference in Nairobi yesterday. [PHOTO: COURTESY]

 

African First Ladies have raised concern that the fight against cancer is not receiving the priority it deserves from leaders in the continent.

Led by Mrs Margaret Kenyatta, the First Ladies are now demanding urgent and stringent measures from the top leadership of governments to reverse the alarming trend.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 9th Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa Conference in Nairobi yesterday, the First Ladies said despite being a top killer, cancer was not being given the priority it deserves.

Margaret said low awareness levels in the top leadership of African governments on the magnitude of the cancer burden and its effect on economic growth and development has prevented the disease from being prioritised.

“We must lobby our leaders, governments, private sector and non-government organisations to take the necessary action so that we can help our people live healthy and productive lives,” she said.

She added: “Our health systems are under-resourced and ill-equipped to deal with the growing cancer burden. In addition, Government health budgets place more emphasis on communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, leaving few resources for diseases such as cancer,” she said.

Yesterday, at least 12 First Ladies were present in the conference, with nine of them having representatives in the club that brings together 30 African countries.

Also present were seven African ministers of Health. They noted that cancer is the third biggest killer in Kenya after infectious and cardiovascular diseases, accounting for at least seven per cent of total national deaths. They added that the majority of the 8 million people who die from cancer globally every year come from Africa.

“This harsh reality calls for concerted efforts to promote cancer prevention, early detection, improved diagnosis and treatment, including palliative care. We will lobby to ensure more gets to be done to save lives in Africa,” Kenya’s First Lady told delegates.

 TRADITIONAL FOODS

She called on people in Africa to eat healthy traditional foods instead of processed products as a strategy to prevent cancer.

Margaret took over the leadership of the forum of African First Ladies from Monica Geingos, the First Lady of Namibia, for the next one year. Ms Geingos called on African countries to establish centres of excellence for cancer management to enable the continent to meet the growing burden of the killer disease. This, she said, would also reduce the number of people from African countries travelling outside the continent to seek treatment. She expressed concern that many of those who survive the disease are often wealthy enough to receive treatment in advanced countries, while those in the continent are being left to die due to poor health systems.

“African governments should scale up their funding of healthcare including the fight against cancer in line with the Abuja declaration that demands at least 15 per cent of health budget to be allocated to health,” she said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was the chief guest, said Kenya is in the process of establishing four centres of excellence across the country to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

“We expect that the centres will not only serve Kenyans but also all Africans. I am committed to having cancer on the top agenda in my government,” he said.

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