Health and Social Welfare minister Dr Seif Rashid (3rd from L, foreground) leads men, women and children in a walk meant to raise funds for a breast cancer screening campaign in Dsm.
Only 10 per cent of women with cervical and breast cancer in the country go for screening and treatment while the remaining 90 per cent fail to access the services due to inadequacy of facilities and lack of awareness over the disease.
This was revealed yesterday in Dar es Salaam by Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) consultant radiation oncologist, Dr. Dominista Kombe, during the launch of breast cancer awareness campaign month which is held in October every year.
Dr. Kombe said a big number of women in the country have developed cervical and breast cancer but only 10 per cent of them can access treatment while majority live with the disease without being aware of it.
According to Dr. Kombe, it is estimated that 40,000 women develop cervical and breast cancer annually but only 4000 to 5000 get treatment.
“Inadequate health facilities providing cancer services and lack of awareness among majority of women have greatly contributed to the increasing cases of cervical and breast cancer in the country,” she said.
She cautioned that Tanzania has some of Africa’s highest reported cases of cervical and breast cancer.
She said half of cancer patients at the ORCI are women with cervical cancer which accounts for 40 per cent of cases followed by breast cancer.
Dr. Kombe revealed that majority of them go to hospitals when the disease is at last stage hence making it difficult to be treated.
She said cervical cancer is transmitted by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) at 99 per cent through sexual intercourse where by the virus strains cause changes in the cervix that can become cancerous if not treated earlier.
Speaking during the campaign launch, Minister of Community Development, Gender and Children, Sophia Simba, said statistics are high and the situation is frightening.
She said the government and non government organisations have increased their efforts in combating the disease but the challenge remains there as the problem cannot be tackled using the available resources.
Minister Simba called upon members of the society and stakeholders to direct more efforts in combating the disease in order to widen the government capability in providing medical service for women who are the most affected group in the society.
She said in order to show the seriousness of the problem and the world concern, each October is designated the world cervical and breast cancer month where different people, non government institutions and various stakeholders come together to create awareness over the problem.
For her part, Tanzania breast cancer foundation chief executive officer, Belinda Mlingo, said that there are still many challenges yet to be conquered in the country so as to raise awareness among women.
“We are working together with other stakeholder to bring visibility to this crisis faced by women and men who suffer from what is now considered to be a curable disease as well their families who are directly affected by this endemic,” said Mlingo.
She mentioned challenges facing the organization including inadequate oncological medical facilities and personnel especially females who could without cultural stigma attend to the majority sufferers, lack of concentrated national programmes directed toward addressing the survivorship crisis in the country and lack of funding.
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