Cancer likely to increase due to poor lifestyle

IDDY MWEMA

DUE to bad life style, cancer patients are estimated to increase by 50 per cent by 2035, Non-communicable Diseases Director in the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Professor Ayoub Magimba, said.

However, he said the government has embarked on a number of strategies to stabilise the situation, including increasing awareness to members of the public. The professor made the revelation in Dar es Salaam yesterday shortly after a charity walk to mark the World Cancer Day on behalf of the Minister, Ms Ummy Mwalimu.

“Through Non- Communicable Diseases (NCD) strategy action plan and National Cancer Control Strategy, the Fifth Phase Government is determined to carry out a number of awareness campaigns to help people get rid of bad lifestyle that have been the cause of the increase of NCD in the country,” he said.

He added that the government plans to buy two X-Ray machines for cancer after it has received 5bn/- from President John Magufuli, thus making a total of 9.5bn/- for that purpose.

On the other hand, he said other efforts made include increasing the budget for buying drugs at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI), whereby in this financial year the government has allocated 7bn/- from only 700m/- in 2015/16. Prof Magimba urged citizens to have the culture of checking their health status more often so that they can be treated.

“Statistics indicate that 70 percent of the patients go to ORCI at the time when the disease has already spread, reaching at the third or fourth stage. This leads to death for many of them after failing to get proper treatment.

And the country has been losing human resources because many of these patients are in most cases aged between 30 and 63 years,” he said. It is estimated that the country records 50,000 cases of cancer every year. However, only 11.4 per cent get treatment.

During the event, Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon Chief Executive Officer, Ms Celina Schocken said their organization aims to construct ‘homeaway- from-home’ communities for women undergoing cancer treatment in Tanzania.

“With only two centers in the whole country to treat them, women must either travel great distances and pay for lodging or, as many do, simply stay home and wait to die,” she explained.

On Friday, Ms Mwalimu said the government will set up 90 centers for test and treatment and diagnose cervical and breast cancer in 30 councils by June, this year.

The minister told a press conference that the World Bank (WB) will finance the construction project and it has already released 2bn/- for the work.

The stations are expected to address a challenge whereby most of the patients are diagnosed while the diseases are already at an advanced stage, a situation that defies treatment