Author: DEOGRATIUS KAMAGI
AfricaPress-Tanzania: IMPROVEMENT in the health sector has increased the number of women undergoing cervical cancer screening to 406,785 by June 2020, up from 127,188 as recorded in 2015.
The service was provided in 649 health centres across the country, Vice-President Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan said yesterday, revealing that the target is to screen one million women by 2025.
She released the figures in Dodoma after a marathon jointly organised by NBC Bank and Athletics Tanzania (AT). The NBC Dodoma Marathon was held to mobilise 75m/- to support the fight against cervical cancer via the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI).
The Vice-President said government is determined to continue improving the health sector by ensuring the availability of the services in urban and rural areas.
The marathon attracted the participation of 3,000 athletes including 35 from three neighbouring countries of Kenya, Uganda and Malawi. Going by the figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2018, Tanzania was projected to have 9,772 patients of cervical cancer, being an average of 59.1 in every 100,000 people hat 6,695 people die of cervical cancer every year in Tanzania,” she explained.
The Vice-President (pictured) said available statistics show that by 2019, a total of 13,215 new patients of cancer were attended, being 31 per cent of all patients who received treatment last year.
Due to the higher number of cervical cancer patients, the Vice-President reiterated government continued efforts to take bold measures to prevent an increase in the number of patients.
Available figures show further that 75 per cent of the patients go to hospital while they are in a critical stage, a move that reduces the chances of recovering.
In this case, the government has improved health care especially on cancer by also working closely with the private sector, international institutions and agencies, nongovernmental organisations and all stakeholders engaged in the fight against cancer.
Considering the effects of the disease, the government is implementing the national strategic plan of rolling out a Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine against cancer of the cervix, which is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. The primary beneficiaries of the vaccine are girls aged 14 years.
Since the launch of the programme in April 2018 to date, at least 81.5 per cent of the intended population has been reached. The Vice-President emphasized on the importance of screening for early detection of cervical cancer which can be treated.
In doing so, treatment of cancer-related complications is available at all zonal hospitals such as Mbeya, Bugando (Mwanza), Benjamin Mkapa (Dodoma), Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Kilimanjaro, and Dar es Salaam. Mama Samia also said the government has continued to improve the accessibility of medicine for cancer treatment from four per cent in 2015 to 95 per cent in 2019.
The initiative included the buying of a modern machine namely LINAC at the (ORCI) used to deliver external beam radiation treatment to cancer patients.
