The Minister of State for Primary Health care, Margaret Muhanga, has attributed the high number of patients with liver cancer to the consumption of foods contaminated with aflatoxins.

Muhanga made the revelation on Wednesday while addressing members of parliament and informed Parliament that the Uganda Cancer Institute receives about 56 cases of liver cancer at Uganda Cancer Institute, due to the consumption of food contaminated with aflatoxins.

Muhanga said that on average, Uganda Cancer Institute receives between 170-200 liver cancer patient’s cases per year but between 48 to 56 of these are a result of aflatoxin exposure.

The minister explained that to manage the affected people, the government spends close to sh3.12b to treat 200 liver cancer patients, with each patient’s treatment costing an average of sh15.6m annually.

Her submission was backed by statistics from the International Food Policy Research Center, through the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) that 3,200 liver cancer cases per year are attributable to aflatoxin exposure (IFPRI) in Uganda. The same report adds that of 40% of commodities in local African markets exceed maximum levels in foods and that Uganda loses up to $ 8 million annually in export trade.

According to research scientists, aflatoxins are invisible poisons that contaminate many crops especially maize grain, groundnuts that are highly consumed by all age groups across the country, explained Dr Godfrey Asea, one of the researchers on a technology called Aflasafe that can be used to eliminate aflatoxins in food items.

While addressing the journalists during a monthly science media bio cafe, Asea said that aflatoxins are complex because they increase with crop stress like drought, when poorly dried, increases further with poor drying and storage facilities, making them difficult to destroy or remove through normal food processing.

The media café was organized by SCIFODE, PBS, UBBS and NARO to inform science journalists about the latest breakthrough in the management of aflatoxins in Uganda.

Without confirming medical numbers, Asea attributed symptoms such as yellowing of the eyes, stunting and protruding stomach among children but also stunting and sometimes death among poultry after consuming aflatoxin infested food items.

“Yellowing of the eyes, due to liver damage, is no longer able to eliminate toxins from the body. A child with a swollen stomach could be suffering from aflatoxin poisoning while a fatty liver in poultry after slaughter is a sign that the bird was suffering from aflatoxin poisons,” Asea explained.

Other effects of aflatoxins include immune suppression, stunting in children, low birth weights and liver cancer, damages the health and business opportunities, decreases productivity in humans and animals among others.

Suggesting solutions for the control and management of aflatoxins

However, all hope is not lost as timely harvesting, proper storage, avoid drying the grains on bare grounds because aflatoxins to can be found in the soil or by using the safe and highly cost-effective biocontrol product developed in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture lITA called Aflasafe.

“Aflasafe contains native non-toxin producing strains of Aspergillus flavus that outcompete toxin-producing ones when applied in the field,” added Asea.

For livestock feed, researchers are proposing the use of the sodium Bentonite Clay by mixing it in animal feeds before feeding the animals. Asea explained that while in the feeds, the clay bids the toxins and channels them through the cow dung.

For humans, regular consumption of biotic yoghurt also helps in binding the aflatoxins, rendering them harmless, added Debora Wendiro, a food scientist, who has just retired from the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI).