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The National Cancer Institute of Kenya (NCI-K) has some startling statistics. According to the institute, 42,000 new cases of cancer were recorded in 2020.
In the same year, 27,000 Kenyans died of cancer. Up to 76 Kenyans are dying of cancer every day.
There is no doubt that Kenya has made great strides in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Unlike in the past when cancer diagnosis and treatment were only available at Kenyatta National Hospital and a few private hospitals, a number of county referral hospitals now have cancer diagnosis facilities.
Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital recently acquired state-of-the-art cancer testing facilities. Still, the disquieting data on cancer in Kenya indicates that something is amiss about the testing and treatment of Kenya's number three killer disease. Not a single day ends without harrowing tales of Kenyans whose lives have been directly or indirectly shattered by breast, cervical, prostate, esophageal, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancers.
What are we doing wrong? There is need, as we have said here for the umpteenth time, to establish the reasons behind the upsurge in cases of cancer.
The influx of unsafe food, including some contaminated by pesticides, is one area that we need to look into. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has attributed unsafe foods to rising cases of long-term illnesses, the top of this being cancer. We should not eat ourselves to death.
Still, there is hope. The NCI-K notes that up to 3.7 million lives can be saved each year if more resources are strategically deployed to fight cancer, including prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, survivorship, evaluation, and research. That means the government must do more if we are win this fight. It is shameful that Kenyans still have to travel to Indian for cancer treatment.
But the government can't win this war alone. Kenyans should take advantage of testing facilities that have been brought closer home and also ensure our young girls get the cervical cancer vaccine.
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