Beth Mugo reveals she has breast cancer

By ALLY JAMAH

Public Health Minister, Beth Mugo becomes the latest public figure to be diagnosed with cancer returning the spotlight on the disease that is silently ravaging thousands of Kenyans across the country.

Mugo, 73, has been diagnosed with breast cancer joining her Medical Services counterpart Anyang’ Nyong’o who has been battling prostate cancer since last year.

This further raises the profile of cancer in Kenya, which also caused the death of the late Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai among other prominent personalities.

At a press conference at Afya House in Nairobi, Mugo broke the news of her condition, but added that the cancerous lump in her breast had been successfully removed in a medical operation conducted in the United States.

“I was lucky that the lump was detected early before it had spread to other parts of the body. Unfortunately for many women in Kenya, cancer is discovered when it is usually too late,” she said.

The cancer was diagnosed late last year during a routine medical checkup in Nairobi and disclosed to her by her personal physician Dr Robert Mathenge of the Equatorial Heart and Blood Vessel Clinic.

“The cancerous tumour has been removed through surgery and the remaining treatment for her is of preventive nature to hinder any further reoccurrence. The Minister should be able to discharge her duties as usual, ” said Dr Mathenge.

The Minister is expected to continue with several chemotherapy regimes in the US and Kenya to keep herself cancer-free in the years ahead.

Breast cancer is now the number one killer of women of 35 to 55 in Kenya, according to the Nairobi Cancer Registry’s most recent statistics, striking one in nine women in the country, and killing many of them, due to late diagnosis. 

Half a century ago, breast cancer was rare, medical experts say. But between 2000 and 2006, the Nairobi Cancer Registry recorded 10,484 cases of cancer in both men and women, with breast cancer accounting for 20.9 per cent of women’s cancer cases, closely followed by cervical cancer at 19.8 per cent.

Other recent studies have shown one in nine Kenyan women as being diagnosed with breast cancer, and one per cent of Kenyan men.

Mugo urged women in Kenya to take breast and cervical cancer seriously by regularly checking for lumps in their breasts and seeking medical advice early enough.

“No one is safe from cancer. The disease has become very common in Kenya. I hope my experience with cancer will help raise awareness about the disease and prevent unnecessary deaths from cancer,” she said.

She revealed that the fight against cancer in Kenya is about to be enhanced and treatment made affordable for ordinary Kenyans, thanks to the cancer Bill that is expected to be passed by Parliament.

Meanwhile Medical services Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o has revealed that his doctors in the US have given him a clean bill of health that his prostate glands no longer have cancerous cells.