It's essential to make equity a central pillar of Kenya's cancer response

On the National Cancer Institute of Kenya's website, numbers tell the grim story of the ravages of cancer in the country: More than 47,000 Kenyans are diagnosed with the disease every year while over 32,000 die from cancer-related complications annually.

This makes cancer the third leading cause of death in Kenya, after infectious diseases and heart conditions. This is despite the fact that 30 per cent of cancers are curable if detected early, and another 30 per cent can be treated with prolonged survival if diagnosed early.