By Our Reporter
Worth Noting:
- Thuo who is also the County CEC in charge of Finance said the government has a state-of-the-art digital mammography machine at the Nyeri County Referral Hospital that is currently under-utilized.
- “It is in this regard that I call upon all eligible women and men in Nyeri County to go for mammogram screening at subsidized costs. I further confirm that ultrasound machines are available in all our level four hospitals and therefore are accessible to our communities for breast cancer screening”.
- The world breast cancer month provides an opportunity to reflect on the burden posed by breast cancer and all other cancers. It also provides a great opportunity to promote awareness on prevention, screening, and early diagnosis of breast cancer as well as advocate on all other cancers.
Shocking details on the killer cancer disease in Nyeri County were yesterday laid bare during the launch of the World Breast cancer month.
In the county, cancer is a leading cause of morbidity with an average of 55 new cases per month and an average workload of 600 cases seen per month at the Chemotherapy Centre in Nyeri County Referral (PGH).
The County Ag. CEC in charge of Health Services Robert Thuo said according to information available, the disease is the leading cause of death from inpatient treated in Sub-Counties, Faith based and Nyeri County Referral Health facilities.
Speaking during the launch of World Breast Cancer month at Mukurwe-ini Hospital grounds, Thuo noted that Cancer of the breast is the leading cancer in the county, followed by that of Esophagus and Prostate.
Breast cancer affects women in the prime of their lives (mostly aged 35-45 years).
Unfortunately, he observed, most of these women, forming about 68% are diagnosed at late stages when it is more difficult to achieve cure, resulting in poor outcomes.
“The breast cancer screening guidelines developed in 2018 promotes breast health education and self-breast awareness as key aspects in early detection of breast cancer with mammography as the choice screening method for average-risk population as it is the only screening modality shown to reduce breast cancer mortality,” he said, adding, “Breast Self-Examination (BSE), Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) and ultrasound are not screening modalities but play important role in breast cancer early diagnosis”.
Thuo who is also the County CEC in charge of Finance said the government has a state-of-the-art digital mammography machine at the Nyeri County Referral Hospital that is currently under-utilized.
“It is in this regard that I call upon all eligible women and men in Nyeri County to go for mammogram screening at subsidized costs. I further confirm that ultrasound machines are available in all our level four hospitals and therefore are accessible to our communities for breast cancer screening”.
The world breast cancer month provides an opportunity to reflect on the burden posed by breast cancer and all other cancers. It also provides a great opportunity to promote awareness on prevention, screening, and early diagnosis of breast cancer as well as advocate on all other cancers.
The CEC further observed that non-communicable or chronic diseases are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression where 66% of people in Nyeri die of a non-communicable disease. Saying that Cancer is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the area, Thuo directed all primary health facilities in the county to focus on health promotion and awareness, early diagnosis of breast cancer through Clinical breast Examination and prompt referral to higher levels of care for Ultrasound and mammography machines.
Despite the shocking information, Thuo disclosed the Cancer pandemic was not only holed upnin Nyeri but was also prevalent in other parts of the country.
“To put this into perspective, our small palliative and cancer treatment centre at the County referral hospital has been getting referrals from 10 of our neighboring counties and enrolling more than 400 new cases every year,” he observed, adding, “to address this pressure, the County Government of Nyeri is in the process of expanding the palliative care and cancer treatment centre. We thank the National Government for the ground-breaking of the modern regional cancer diagnosis, research, and treatment centre at Dedan Kimathi University,”.
While calling on Nyeri people in particular and Kenyans in general to be screened, Thuo noted that
Cancer is distressing for the family where it profoundly affects both the family’s daily functioning and economic situation.
He further noted that the economic shock includes both the loss of income and the expenses associated with health care costs.
“I therefore call upon all stakeholders to join hands in confronting and halting the menace and address the burden associated with cancer. Let us all strive to be champions and goodwill ambassadors for cancer. Let us all go for screening, he concluded.