NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 21– The Ministry of Health (MoH) is set to launch the Breast Cancer Action Plan (2021-2025) at Nakuru Level 5 Hospital on Friday in a bid to address the alarming breast cancer cases in the country.
Kenyan Network of Cancer Organizations (KENCO) said in a statement on Thursday that the action plan entails the scaling up of breast cancer screening and early diagnosis to reduce breast cancer related deaths.
“To reduce incidence and mortality related to breast cancer in Kenya, MoH has developed an action plan to provide a country –specific implementation framework for scale up of breast cancer screening and early diagnosis,” it said.
KENCO said that the action plan brings together current evidence and identifies key strategies for addressing breast cancer in the Kenyan context, based on the findings of a pilot study the health ministry conducted in Nyeri County in 2019.
The organization further said that plan further aims to reduce cases of women with advanced breast cancer by half in the next five years.
“The target of this action plan is to reduce the percentage of women presenting with advanced breast cancer (stage 3 and 4) to below 50% by 2025 through increasing awareness, screening, early diagnosis, and linkage,” KENCO added.
It further states that the action plan puts in strategies on how to improve the uptake of mammography screening in the eligible populations.
“The overall objective is to ensure timely access to screening, early diagnosis, and further management of breast cancer for every eligible woman in Kenya,” they said.
The cancer organization further stated that to achieve that objective by ensuring at least 90% of symptomatic women are linked to timely further evaluation and management within 60 days of their first encounter with a healthcare worker.
It also pointed out the Improvement of capacity and availability of breast screening services at the primary level as another strategy.
“The rapid decline in the breast cancer screening rates in health facilities serving communities with lower incomes is alarming,” said Muthoni Mate, a Breast Cancer Survivor and Founder, Cancer Café and a KENCO member.
“It is important to note that these facilities already have barriers to accessing healthcare and have higher breast cancer mortality rates, meaning there is need for thorough implementation of this action plan,” she added.
Through these activities, it is anticipated that the defined target of reducing breast cancer mortality in Kenya by 2.5% per year, will be achieved.
KENCO further stated that the implementation of this Breast Cancer action plan will be a joint collaborative, multi-sectoral effort of partners, government at both National and County, Civil society, Health professionals, Communities and other key stakeholders.
Globally, cancer incidences and mortality continue to rise with female breast cancer surpassing lung cancer as the leading cause of global cancer incidence in 2020.
There were an estimated 2.3 million new breast cancer cases, representing 11.7% of all cancer cases.
In Kenya, Breast Cancer remains the most diagnosed cancer with an annual incidence of 6,000 and 2,500 cancer-related deaths. The problem is compounded by late-stage presentation of clients, according to KENCO.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID -19) pandemic has further exacerbated this due to its disruption on the healthcare system. The pandemic has been particularly disruptive for cancer services across the country.
