Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 5- Kenya is among seven Africa countries set to benefit from life-saving nuclear medicine and radiotherapy, an initiative of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The initiative aims at helping African countries tackle the shortage of cancer care capacity in continuous efforts to reduce cancer-linked deaths in the continent.
This after the IAEA and African Union (AU) Friday agreed to renew and deepen their cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear technology to help address climate change, disease detection and treatment, food security, and other development challenges in the continent.
Other beneficiaries include; Benin, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Malawi, and Senegal.
Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the IAEA’s Rays of Hope initiative, on the eve of African heads of state summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Friday.
“Around half of all cancer patients need radiotherapy, but only one in ten patients in low and middle-income countries can access treatment. The IAEA is creating a new initiative to change that by launching to help countries provide Cancer Care for all,” Grossi said.
“Even relatively small investments – setting up and operating a radiotherapy unit able to treat 500 patients per year can cost US$7.5 million – will make a significant difference in a country’s capacity to offer adequate cancer care to its people” he added
The event was attended by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo and Ambassador Jean Kamau.
The event was co-hosted by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, the incoming Chairperson of the African Union.
Moussa Faki Mahamat of the African Union Commission (AUC) addressed the meeting which was also attended by Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera.
The event was held during World Cancer Day, an international day marked on February 4, to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
World Cancer Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.
