THE SUCCESS IN CANCER CARE AND RESEARCH IN MACHAKOS COUNTY SHOULD BE REPLICATED ACROSS KENYA

The prevalence of cancer in Africa has increased with the incidence rates in Northern and Central Africa doubling between 2002 and 2020. The cancer incidence count has increased from 715,000 in 2008 (29) to 1.1 million in 2020, and cancer mortality count has increased from 542,000 in 2008 (29) to 711,000 in 2020.

In the East African region, the ravaging and devastating effect of cancer is also spreading at an alarming rate. The annual incidence of cancer in Kenya is about 28 000 new cases with an annual mortality of 22 000 cases, that is, 78.5% of the victims do not survive. The government has been making progressive efforts to provide better cancer healthcare in the country.

The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta Tuesday launched a regional cancer center at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital in the coastal city of Mombasa. The ultra-modern facility, developed in partnership between the national government and the county government of Mombasa as part of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) pillar of the development blueprint, boasts of high-tech equipment to offer comprehensive cancer care.

In 2019, the Governor of Machakos county unveiled a cancer care center in the county where residents registered for universal healthcare program would receive free screening, counselling and chemotherapy treatment. The issue of the high cost of treatment of cancer in Kenya and Africa at large has been the key hurdle to addressing the gap in cancer care needs and the service delivery in the country and therefore, the move by Dr Alfred Mutua in bringing the services closer to the people and at subsidized cost was heralded as a great move to enable more Kenyans get better cancer care and treatment, a move that ought to be replicated in other counties across the country