• Nyongesa, proprietor of the Texas Cancer Center Nairobi has called on players to close the gap between diagnosis and treatment.
• The state aims to strengthen its nationwide lifestyle modification campaign and amplified cancer awareness.
As the world commemorates World Cancer Day, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) has called for progress in reducing the global impact of cancer on lives and livelihoods.
Stakeholders in the health sector have called for the need to ensure everyone deserves access to cancer care despite their social, and background status.
In line with this year's theme "closing the gap", cancer care and health practitioner has called on Kenyans to play part in creating a cancer-free world.
Dr. Catherine Nyongesa, proprietor of Texas Cancer Center Nairobi has called on players to close the gap between diagnosis and treatment.
"The world has greatly advanced in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. But many are denied basic care and that equity gap costs lives," Dr. Nyongesa said.
Dr. Nyongesa noted that income, education, geographical location, and discrimination either by ethnicity, race, gender, age, disability are among the leading causes of the widening gap of access to care.
She said the gap affects everyone.
In Kenya, cancer is the third leading cause of death after infectious and cardiovascular diseases.
According to data from the Globocan 2020, the annual incidence of cancer in Kenya stands at 42,116 recorded as new cases and the annual cancer mortality is 27,092.
The five most common cancers in Kenya are breast, cervical, prostate, esophageal, and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
An improvement in the diagnostic capabilities for detecting cancer may also have contributed to the increased incidence of the disease. Apart from early detection and testing,
Dr. Nyongesa, advises one to consider cancer-prevention tips such as not using tobacco as it puts one on a collision course with cancer.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and being physically active, protecting yourself from the sun, getting vaccinated, and having regular medical care and checkups while avoiding risky behaviors.
The national government, through the ministry of health, has launched several initiatives in curbing the cancer burden through various strategies.
In the programme, the state aims to strengthen its nationwide lifestyle modification campaign and amplified cancer awareness efforts while seeing for the establishment of various functional county-level cancer care centers.
Young girls are also being encouraged to take Papillomavirus vaccines to reduce the increasing incidence of cervical cancer among young females.
The Health Ministry also aims to make accessible through the Universal Health Coverage(UHC) and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.