Cancer: Development crisis, not just a health issue
Prevention must be Uganda’s first line of defence against cancer: evidence indicates that 37% of new cancer cases worldwide in 2022 were linked to preventable causes, including tobacco, alcohol, cancer-causing infections, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, excess body weight, air pollution and occupational exposures.
Keneth Turyahabwe. (Courtesy)
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OPINION
By Keneth Turyahabwe
Uganda cannot build a prosperous future while silently losing its people to cancer. The time has come to move beyond occasional awareness campaigns and make cancer prevention, early detection and treatment a measurable national priority.
Cancer is not simply a health crisis. It is a national development crisis.
The latest International Agency for Research on Cancer Global Cancer Observatory estimates show that Uganda has an age-standardised cancer incidence rate of 123.9 cases per 100,000 people and a mortality rate of 81.4 deaths per 100,000. The estimated risk of developing cancer before age 75 is 13.3%, while the risk of dying from cancer before 75 is 9.2%.
Cancer does not read books, recognise titles or respect bank accounts.
It does not distinguish between the poor and the wealthy, the unknown and the famous, or the less educated and the highly accomplished. Uganda has lost respected leaders, academics, professionals, entrepreneurs and talented young people to cancer. Education cannot make us immune; wealth cannot guarantee protection; social status cannot place anyone beyond its reach.
If cancer can reach the palace, the classroom, the boardroom and the village, our response must reach every Ugandan.
Prevention must be Uganda’s first line of defence against cancer: evidence indicates that 37% of new cancer cases worldwide in 2022 were linked to preventable causes, including tobacco, alcohol, cancer-causing infections, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, excess body weight, air pollution and occupational exposures.
Prevention cannot be an annual event. It must become a national culture.
Schools, workplaces, health facilities, cultural and religious institutions, local governments and the media must all become partners in prevention.
Prevention is cheaper than mourning.
Early detection for cancer is the game changer: Prevention will not eliminate every cancer. However, early detection is one of Uganda's greatest opportunities to save lives.
Cervical, prostate, breast, oesophageal, colorectal, liver, stomach and blood cancers continue to impose a serious burden on Ugandans.
Regular, evidence-based screening should become part of preventive healthcare for eligible people. Screening can identify some cancers and precancerous changes before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective.
A suspicious result must lead to timely diagnosis. A confirmed diagnosis must lead to treatment. Treatment must begin without unnecessary delay.
We need a war, not another campaign. Uganda has held many health campaigns. Cancer requires something more enduring.
We need a sustained national war against cancer backed by policy, financing, measurable targets and accountability.
These targets must have budgets, responsible institutions, deadlines and measurable outcomes. What gets measured gets managed. What gets publicly reported can be held accountable.
Cancer control cannot remain the responsibility of the Ministry of Health alone.
President Yoweri Museveni and the Cabinet must give cancer prevention and control the political priority it deserves. The Parliament must demand measurable results and protect cancer priorities in national budgets. The finance ministry must fund interventions that save lives before disease becomes advanced. Local governments must take prevention and early detection into communities.
The test of success is not the number of conferences, posters or campaigns.
It is simply: How many cancers did we prevent? How many did we detect early? How quickly were they diagnosed? How quickly did treatment begin? How many lives were saved?
Uganda is a young nation with enormous ambitions. However, a young population becomes an economic advantage only when people are healthy enough to learn, work, innovate, raise families and build the nation.
We cannot build Uganda’s future while silently losing its people to cancer.
The choice is clear: Prevent It. Detect It Early. Save Lives.
Cancer is a silent epidemic. Cancer is a development crisis. Uganda must now match the scale of the problem with the scale of its response
The writer is an epidemiologist with the Ministry of Health Centres for Disease Control and Prevention based at Yumbe Regional Referral Hospital, West Nile sub-region