The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has indicated that there are plans to make screening for prostate cancer for all men aged above 45 years compulsory.

The minister was on Thursday, February 1, 2024, addressing participants at the 2nd Africa Test and Treat Initiative Conference Against Cancer and other Non- Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

The conference was aimed at enhancing awareness, early detection and diagnosis for quality prevention and control.

In her remarks, the permanent secretary Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine observed the need to strengthen community health services where community health workers can go door-to-door for testing/screening for blood pressure and blood sugar in homes.

Atwine also mooted the need to strengthen point-of-care testing for NCDs which will help break down the delays for patients.

She also called for more investment to help in the early detection of NCDs at lower health facilities.

The Executive Director of Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Dr Jackson Orem revealed that Kampala and Gulu districts have registered the highest cancer burden.

He indicated that that Kampala leads in the number of diagnosed cancer cases followed by Gulu and Kabale respectively.

He said the major risk factor for most cancers are infections with cervical cancer topping among women.

Other risk factors for cancer, according to Dr Orem, include genetics/age at 30% and lifestyle (what we eat and drink and physical inactivity) at 28%. 

A recent study conducted on Infection-related and lifestyle-related cancer burden in Kampala: projection of the future cancer incidence up to 2030 predicted that, cervical cancer incidence was projected to increase by 35.3%, breast by 57.7% and prostate cancer by 33.4%, respectively.

The Age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) of cervical and breast were projected to increase up to 66.1 and 48.4 per 100,000 women. The ASR of prostate cancer was estimated to increase from 41.6 to 60.5 per 100,000 men. These changes were due to changes in risk factors and population growth.

Cancer burden

For every 100,000 population, the number of new cancer cases stands at about 250, according to the Kampala Cancer Registry 2020.

This means for every 100,000 people in Uganda, 250 of them will suffer from cancer in their lifetime. This implies the risk factors are high and we are not controlling them.

Among women, cancer of the cervix is top on the list of commonly diagnosed cancers, followed by breast cancer, then cancer of the stomach, cancer of the Oesophagus and lastly cancer of the liver.

In men, prostate cancer ranks first, followed by Kaposis Sarcoma, then cancer of the liver and Lymphoma –cancer of the soft tissue

Last year Uganda registered over 34, 000 new cancer cases, according to the Global Can 2020 report.  Worth noting, the same report reveals that about 23, 000 people succumbed to cancer in the same year.