Cancers alone contribute to 48 percent of premature deaths related to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs in the country.
With 3000 cases recorded annually against one specialist doctor in Malawi, this according to health experts is a huge disease burden.
Director of Health Services responsible for technical services Dr. Lillian Chunda made the revelation when she opened the 6th Cancer Symposium in Lilongwe.
She lamented that the focus has been in the urban areas while the rural communities are left with little information on cancer of the esophagus (food pipe) which is the third commonest type.
Dr. Chunda stressed those messages on the disease need to trickle down to rural communities who don’t have access to modern gadgets but rely on chiefs and local governance structures.
With the National Cancer Centre expected to become fully operational before the end of the year in Lilongwe, district hospitals will have well trained personnel to help in identifying the disease and how to handle cases and referrals to the main centre.
“It means the other percentages are divided among other things other than the cancers. Currently radiotherapy services are provided in Blantyre and as government before the end of the year, we’ll open the National Cancer Centre which will be offering treatment, offering radiotherapy services in the country”
She however indicated that Malawi is doing well on cervical cancer because women are aware on the benefits of screening but the other ones affecting children, men people don’t know how to prevent them hence the need to improve on sensitization and prevention of different type of cancers.
Dr. Tamiwe Tomoka Co-Director of Cancer Programme at UNC Project Malawi says the country has registered major strides in cancer care and treatment.
The programme which started in 2012 has expanded as at first the focus was on HIV associated cancers mainly affecting blood cells and lymph nodes, cervical cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma.
Overtime, other cancers of the breast, esophagus and pediatric childhood cancers were introduced.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, a pathology laboratory was established where Cancer diagnosis is done using body tissues and the lab has facilitated care and treatment.
Dr. Tomoka hailed the working partnership within the Cancer Centre which has helped with the other types which were not within the initial Cancer programme.
Commenting on the news of radiotherapy services being available before the end of the year to patients she said: ‘We’re very excited with the coming in of radiotherapy that was one aspect of treatment that was lacking.
“Majority of our patients come in with advanced cases that need radiotherapy and they’re also some other cancers that respond better to radiotherapy and then it was difficult to treat such cancers.
“So with our collaboration with the Ministry of Health and UNC with KCH and the Cancer Centre, we are at the moment in discussion on areas of collaboration. For example, we have meetings that we’re doing with the Cancer Centre leadership in terms of areas that we can collaborate and help with the launching of the radiotherapy centre”
The Department of Radiotherapy in the UNC Chapel Hill in the US, faculty, physicists and medical personnel are working together with Malawian colleagues on treating cancer with radiotherapy and planning on how this will be executed
According to the pathologist, this will be an additional to the long-term collaboration which UNC has had with the Ministry of Health and partners.
