Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - October 5, 2009
Jude Kafuuma
Bukenya also called upon the public to visit health centres early for cancer screening to save more lives.
This was contained in a speech read during the breast cancer charity walk, organised by the Uganda Women's Cancer Support Organisation on Saturday.
"Early detection saves life. We must push for further clinical trials of these cancers and establish research about them,"Bukenya said. He pledged more support from the Government to Mulago Cancer Institute and other health centres. Activists walked from Mulago hospital to Sheraton gardens in Kampala.
Breast and cervical cancers are the most common causes of deaths in women aged 45 to 55 worldwide. The World Health Organisation has set 0ctober as the month for cancer awareness.
In Uganda, female survivors are championing the campaign to stop the stigma attached to breast cancer.
Cancer is on the increase the world over, affecting 27 out of every 100,000 people today, as opposed to 11 per 100,000 in 1961. Over 22 million people in the world have cancer.
Uganda has about 1,000 breast cancer cases among women, out of the 32,000 new cancer cases established annually. For the last five years, Uganda has had a survival rate of 56% in all cancer cases treated.
Medics attribute this to lack of early screening and treatment facilities. Dr. Anthony Gakwaya, a cancer surgeon at Mulago Cancer Institute, said Uganda has only one radio-therapy plant to treat cancer patients.
The prevalence of HIV/AIDS has greatly contributed to the increase of cancer cases, he noted, adding: "Cancer can be treated and if detected early, patients survive."
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