A report reveals that a throat cancer is the deadliest

You are more likely to die of oesophageal cancer than other types of cancer, says a report presented to a parliamentary committee by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

According to data presented to the Health Committee, of the 4,380 new cases of esophageal cancer reported each year, 4,351 deaths were recorded, which means only 29 people survived.

This further means that out of 365 people diagnosed with esophageal cancer in a month, only two survive, shocking revelation that could now make it one of the country's most deadly cancers.

According to the data, bad and cervical cancers constitute the largest number of new cancer cases, while cancers of the esophagus, prostate and colorectal cancer follow respectively on new cases of cancer in the country.

There are 5,985 new cases of bad cancer per year, followed by cervical cancer (5,250), esophagus (4,380), prostate (2,864) and colorectal (2,316).

According to the data, of the 5,985 new cases of bad cancer reported each year, 2,553 deaths were recorded, cervical cancer recorded 3,286 deaths, prostate 1,663 deaths and colorectal 1,466 deaths.

The institute also estimates that there are 3,200 new cases of cancer in children under 18 years of age; The five most common cancers in children are leukemia (17%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (15%) and kidney (Wilms tumor) at 6%.

The other two common childhood cancers include the brain and nervous system (5%), while nasopharyngeal cancer ranks fifth (4.5%).

Dr. Alfred Karagu, acting director general of the institute, told deputies that, based on data collected at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) between 2014 and 2016, 65% of all cases had been diagnosed at an advanced stage of stage three or four.

At the national level, Dr. Karagu said, the availability of prevention, management and control services for various cancers is still low.

He added that the institute had developed a draft training program and key messages to use to train community health volunteers in cancer prevention when scaling up the project. universal health care.

The NCI boss also said that he was working with decentralized governments to promote cancer screening in county and sub-county hospitals and strengthen cancer diagnostic services.

Dr. Karagu added that they also collaborated with the National Hospital Insurance Fund to expand oncology benefit packages and protect Kenyans against catastrophic expenses, as well as to train health workers in the institutions. from primary health care to early detection and rapid referral.

The Executive Director, however, told the committee that the institute was facing financial constraints and infrastructure issues. For example, they do not have an office.

Dr. Karagu said the ministry had allocated them only one room, noting that they needed about 100 people to effectively run the institute, against six currently supported by the ministry, and two support staff.

Dr. Karagu told lawmakers that the ministry only received an annual grant of 14 million shillings from the government, an amount that he said would not be enough to enable him to fulfill his mandate. .