Accessing cancer testing and detection services is a major challenge, especially for people upcountry.

In an effort to intensify cancer screening services, Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) has received yet another mobile cancer screening van.  The van is set to arrive at UCI within two months’ time. 

The director Uganda Cancer Institute, Dr. Jackson Orem said most people who are out of Kampala cannot access timely cancer screening services.

Therefore, the mobile van will traverse communities to make diagnoses of cancer in other parts of the body focusing on the head, neck, and mouth.

 Dr. Orem said the equipment will help make quick diagnoses of cancers given that the commonest cancer diagnosed among children is cancer of the jaw (Buckets’ Lymphoma).

Honorary Consul of Uganda in Mumbai India Madhusudan Agrawal chatting with the former Prime Minister of Uganda Ruhakana Rugunda0

 The van was donated by the Honorary Consul of Uganda in Mumbai, India Madhusudan Agrawal, and handed over to the institute by the former Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda.

Rugunda commended the generosity and friendship exhibited by Agwal.  He urged the public to embrace the services given that early cancer detection and treatment saves lives.

This is the second cancer screening van Madhudan Agrwal is donating to Uganda after being impressed by what UCI has been able to do and the government's investment in UCI.  In 2018, UCI received a second mammography van donated from Agrawal used to test breast and cervical cancer.

This was when Agrawal together with Rugunda visited UCI yesterday (October 25) to access the work done by the previously donated Mammogram Van.

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.