Invest in cancer diagnostic technology

Lazarus Sauti

In countries within and across Africa, cancer is a growing health burden that is ravaging societies.

The diseases can no longer be ignored as it is killing more people globally than Human Immunodefiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Tuberculosis and malaria.

The World Health Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health, agrees that cancer figures among the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths in 2012.

Further, the leading international public health organisation forecasts that the annual cancer cases will rise to 22 million within the next two decades from 14 million in 2012.

Through its cancer research agency, International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organisation also asserts that lung, liver, stomach, colorectal and breast cancers cause the most cancer deaths each year.

This means cancer requires urgent attention before it grounds Africa to her knees.

Sadly, in most – if not all – African countries, cancer services are failing to meet growing demand due to lack of adequate equipment as well as decades of under-investment especially in health services.

Dr. Ahmed Komen, a Kenyan oncologist at Aga khan University Hospital, Nairobi, believes this poor investment in diagnostic technologies is seriously hampering the treatment of cancer and the much needed attention it demands.

“Due to lack of modern diagnostic technologies, the disease is not detected and diagnosed early, and most citizens, especially women, are suffering as a result,” says Dr. Komen.

He goes on to say cancer diagnosis, consequently, needs to be made on time if Africa is to save her citizenry.

“Cancer is curable and, therefore, early detection of any type of it is crucial to treatment and management of the disease,” he notes, adding that the disease is serious hence diagnosis needs to be made on time.

Dr. Komen also adds that cervical cancer – a burden for many women in African communities, for instance, can be largely avoided with a vaccine or successfully treated if it is detected and diagnosed early enough.

Because of this, David Makumi of the Kenya Cancer Association, says countries within and across the African continent must invest heavily in cancer diagnostic technology to improve the treatment and care of growing cancer patients on the continent.

“Investing in cancer diagnostic technologies is critical for African countries. It will help reduce the overlapping burden of the disease,” he says.

Dr. Shahin Sayed, a pathologist at the Aga Khan University Hospital, also agrees that the successful management of cancer depends on effective cancer diagnostic technologies.

“Efforts to combat cancer, without doubt, depend on effective cancer diagnostic technologies. Per se, African countries need to invest more in such technologies as well as in laboratory infrastructure to enhance access to, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and research of the disease,” says Dr. Sayed.

The medical doctor also asserts that the effective management of cancer in Africa warrants translational efforts to develop appropriate cancer diagnostic technologies that could help improve treatment of the disease.

Countries in the continent, therefore, need to scale up strategies for tackling cancer by developing suitable cancer diagnostic technologies, increasing the number of healthcare personnel, providing more equipment for cancer care on top of modernising cancer treatment and care to meet global standards.

For this to be successful, Makumi urges stakeholders from the community, government as well as the private sector to work together in fight for cancer.

“For proper cancer treatment and management, all stakeholders from the community, government and private sector must work together in fight for cancer,” he advices.

Frankly, early detection and diagnosis of cancer as well as minimally invasive treatments are more likely to yield successful outcomes in the fight for the disease.

Accordingly, African countries, as a matter of necessity, must invest in the development of low-cost and portable diagnostic technologies, which have the potential to increase early detection, diagnosis, and non- or minimally-invasive treatment of the disease.