7 in 10 childhood cancer cases at advanced stages – MoH

Where you live will determine if you live. If you are a child in the developed countries and you get childhood cancer, your survival rate is beyond 80 per cent but if you are born in the developing countries like ours, that rate reduces to 30 per cent, and it is something that we can change.

Seven in every 10 childhood cancer cases are at advanced stages, preliminary data by the National Cancer Registry shows.

The data shows that the age group with the highest incidences of childhood cancers is zero to 14 years.

More than half of all childhood cancers in Kenya are leukaemia, retinoblastoma or renal cancers, the data shows.

Retinoblastoma is an eye cancer that begins in the retina, the sensitive lining on the inside of the eye; it commonly affects young children and rarely occurs in adults.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe last year directed healthcare providers offering cancer care services to report any newly diagnosed cases to the National Cancer Institute effective September 1.

“It is a young one not yet as per the global standards but is already getting some preliminary data,” said Dr Mary Nyangasi, head of the national cancer programme at the ministry.

“Seven in every 10 cancer cases in this young registry are advanced. So that means the treatment outcomes are poor and that means the majority will die. So we have a lot of work to do.” 

This has been linked to factors such as low awareness levels among healthcare workers and within the community.

“In fact, very few people believe that children can get cancer. In the community, people believe that probably it is witchcraft or that someone looked at their child with a bad eye. A lot of people don’t believe that children can get cancer,” the medic said.

Late stage presentation by patients and limited access to diagnosis and treatment are some of the other listed challenges driving high advanced-stage cancer cases.

The directive by Kagwe required healthcare providers to make the notification within 60 days of detecting a new cancer case among their patients for the purposes of maintaining the national cancer registry, in line with the Cancer Prevention Control Act.

All healthcare providers were further required to make an application for the National Cancer Register-Provider Access Credentials to the NCI-Kenya chief executive officer.

The NCI-Kenya was established in recognition of the need for a more coordinated response to the growing cancer burden in the country.

Childhood cancers are curable if diagnosis and detection are done early and early treatment initiated.

According to Childhood Cancer International, when diagnosed early enough, and treated with the appropriate protocols, up to 80 per cent of childhood cancers are curable.

But data shows that whereas 80 per cent of childhood cancers are curable in developed countries, the success rate drops to below 30 per cent in low and middle-income countries, including Kenya.

“Where you live will determine if you live. If you are a child in the developed countries and you get childhood cancer, your survival rate is beyond 80 per cent but if you are born in the developing countries like ours, that rate reduces to 30 per cent, and it is something that we can change.”