By Lydia Shekighenda and James Kamala
TANZANIA joins the
rest of the world to mark the World Cancer Day today, with statistics
from the Ocean Road Cancer Institute showing a 40 per cent rise of
patients who go for follow- up care at the
facility in the past five
years.
Alarmed with the
soaring number of cancer cases, the government is calling on Tanzanians
to take necessary precautions to combat the disease, which is one of
most fatal diseases across the global.
The Minister for
Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ms Ummy
Mwalimu made the call when gracing the commemoration of the World Cancer
Day.
The commemoration
coincided with the launching of a national guideline for cancer
treatment at the Dar es Salaambased cancer facility.
She said statistics
show that new cancer cases during the past five years stood at about
210,000, noting that the situation underlines the need for immediate
intervention.
"New reported cases include youth as young as 30 years of age due to change in lifestyle and bad eating habits," she said.
"Yet many cancer
patients do not attend hospitals for specialised treatment, so ends in
the hands of untrained traditional healers who link the disease with
witchery," the minister added.
The minister noted
that cancer screening services are available across the country, with
around 650 health centres, dispensaries and hospitals capacitated with
preliminary screening facilities.
She urged the public to make effective use of the services so that the medication for cancer patients can start on time.
ORCI Director of
Cancer Prevention Services Dr Crispin Kahesa told the 'Daily News' that
in 2014 the number of patients who visited the hospital for follow-up
cure was 26,000 but the number increased to 48,000 last year.
"This means that
patients can now survive once put on medication, that's why the number
of those who are coming for follow-up treatment has increased," Dr
Kahesa said.
He said in the
past, people were given treatment, but only a few returned for follow-up
care because some of them died, but currently the number has increased
because they have a better chance to survive after commencing the
medication.
"In other words I
can say that the number of cancer related deaths has dropped by more
that 40 per cent because most of the patients are now coming back to the
facility for checkups," he said.
He further said
that the government has taken various initiatives to move cancer
services closer to the people and currently there were 600 screening
centres across the country.
Dr Kahesa added the
treatment services were also available in zonal hospitals to help those
who are being diagnosed with the disease to access the services from
the facilities.
"We are now moving
to regional referral hospitals where people could also access the
services ... measures are in place to ensure that the number of health
personnel being trained goes together with the availability of
equipment," he said.
He noted after the
services are made available in zonal and referral health facilities,
ORCI will remain as consultant because services which were being
provided at the institute in 2000s will be available in upcountry
regions.
Dr Kahesa said the
plans were to transform ORCI into the centre of excellence which will
provide services that meet international standards.
He said the institute has installed modern equipment and plans were underway to start offering PET-CT Scan services.
"The machine will
be launched this year and will make Tanzania the first country in East
Africa with such a machine in a public hospital," Dr Kahesa said.
The PET-CT scan is a
diagnostic examination that involves getting images of the body based
on the detection of radiation from the emission of positrons.
It gives detailed information, including exact representation of certain types of cancer and their metastasis.
Thus, it is possible to display not only the cancer itself but also its activity.
For his part, ORCI
Acting Director of Medical and Allied Health Services Dr Mark Mseti
assured the community that cancer could easily be treated if diagnosed
on time.
He said
radiotherapy was the right and effective treatment. Dr Mseti listed some
of the leading cases as cervix cancer, breast cancer and oesophagus
cancer.
He named the most
affected places as urban areas especially in cities like Tanga, Dar es
Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Mbeya adding that unhealthy lifestyle was the
main factor. "We want people to change their lifestyle," he appealed.
The World Cancer
Day is marked on February 4 every year to raise awareness of the disease
and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
According to the
World Health Organisation (WHO) globally, one in five people are
diagnosed with cancer before the age of 75, and the incidence continues
to rise as life expectancy increases and patterns of disease change.
The cancer burden
in the African Region is projected to increase from over one million new
cases in 2018 to over two million cases by 2040.
In subSaharan Africa, deaths from cancer have increased by 13 per cent since 2012, accounting for 506 568 deaths in 2018.
The aims of WCD are
to help save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising
awareness and education about cancer, and pressing governments across
the world to take action against the disease.
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