Digital healthcare can improve cancer treatment

When former Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache with former Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui were taken through some of the cancer Machines at the newly commissioned Regional cancer centre at Rift Valley provincial general Hospital in Nakuru on June 6, 2022. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Cancer is an increasing health burden in sub-Saharan Africa with high rates of prostate, breast and cervix cancer.

An estimated 752,000 new cancer cases (4 per cent of global total) and 506,000 cancer deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa in 2018 and the number is predicted to more than double in 20 years. In Kenya, cancer is the third leading cause of death after infectious and cardiovascular diseases. From 2012 to 2018, the annual incidence of cancer increased from 37,000 to 47,887 new cases. During the same period, annual cancer mortality rose nearly 16 per cent, from 28,500 to 32,987 cancer-related deaths.