Kenya to Expand Access to Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Services

During the mission, the team met with government representatives, civil society organizations, professional societies, academic institutions and international development partners. This also included visits to two of Kenya’s largest county hospitals in Eldoret and Mombasa to discuss their plans to expand cancer treatment.

The experts found that Kenya has made significant progress developing cancer control services, policy and legislation since the last imPACT review in 2010 and are putting forward a set of detailed recommendations on activities that will help improve tackling the cancer burden in the country.

The government has also initiated a review of the National Cancer Control Strategy 2011-2016 with a view to improve access to a wide range of cancer services. “The biggest gaps we have in the response to cancer are in the early identification of cases, the availability of radiotherapy services and the provision of palliative care,” said Dr Muraguri. “At the moment, Nairobi has the only public radiotherapy centre to treat Kenya’s cancer patients,” he said.

With the present shortage of public facilities, cancer patients face long waiting times for treatment, as most cannot afford private healthcare. Increasing the availability of publicly funded services will help reduce mortality rates and costs associated with long term treatment.

The expansion of Kenya’s cancer services is supported through a joint IAEA, WHO and IARC initiative, aimed at building partnerships and sharing expertise and resources. Dr Joyce Nato, Technical Officer for the WHO Kenya Country Office underlined this and WHO’s collaboration to improve the country’s cancer registration system. “We are committed to support the further development and implementation of evidence-based programmes for cancer prevention, early detection and treatment. In this regard, a good cancer surveillance system is essential to provide quality data for improved policy and planning purposes,” she said.

Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT)
PACT was established as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help fight the growing cancer crisis in the developing world. The IAEA has over 40 years experience in supporting countries in applying nuclear technologies for health and prosperity. PACT works to improve IAEA Member States’ capacities to address the growing cancer burden through promoting the integration of radiotherapy technologies within a comprehensive national cancer control programme. PACT builds strong strategic partnerships, particularly with the World Health Organization, to provide equitable, affordable and quality access to cancer care for all cancer patients to the highest standards, everywhere. cancer.iaea.org

^[1] Source: IARC GLOBOCAN (2012)