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One in two women diagnosed with cervical cancer died while it was preventable, the Ministry of Health said.
National Cancer Program Leader Anne Ng'ang'a said the main challenge was the late diagnosis and high cost of treating the disease in its advanced stages.
She added that in some cases, treatment was limited due to the high number of cancer patients in the country.
According to a report published in 2018 by the World Health Organization (WHO), Kenya has the highest number of cancer cases in East Africa, with 32,987 deaths a year.
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Cervical cancer was reported as the leading cause of death in the region, causing 14,282 deaths out of 83,426.
Ministry data show that about 5,250 new cases of cervical cancer are reported each year, including 3,268 deaths during the same period. This means that more than half of those diagnosed with the disease die.
Dr. Ng'ang'a said that Kenya is among the 20 most affected countries in the world by the number of cases of cervical cancer.
The government plans to begin vaccinating 10-year-old girls from May this year against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is one of the risk factors for cervical cancer.
The human papillomavirus (HPV), a group of more than 100 viruses, 13 of which are carcinogens, also revealed, according to WHO, cancer of the vulva, anus, bad and penis.
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January is the month of cervical cancer awareness, said Dr. Ng'ang'a, women should take advantage of free cancer screening in selected hospitals. "We want Kenyans to stop worrying about cervical cancer," he said.
Related Topics
cervical cancerNational Cancer Control ProgramCancer
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