Ashley Nyambe
THERE is a lack of cancer surveillance systems and cancer control plans in the country, which makes it difficult to measure and fight against the increasing burden of cancer, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN), Rolf Hansen.
Hansen explained that the purpose of a cancer surveillance system, which is generally lacking in the Sub-Saharan region, is to provide substantive data that can be presented to custodians of health, such as the Ministry of Health and Social Services, so that they can establish quality policies that bring about change in the battle against cancer.
He also suggested that the country needs a national cancer control plan to legally govern and guide cancer control in the country.
However, according to him, the last seven years’ efforts towards the development and reimplementation of a new substantive cancer control programme in Namibia were halted, primarily due to lack of funding as the fight against Covid-19 took priority.
According to Hansen, cancer is a bigger threat than Covid-19, particularly because the burden of it is rising in Sub-Saharan Africa. He stated that national estimates from data provided by the Cancer Registries indicate that there were more than 800 000 new cancer cases and more than 500 000 cancer deaths in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.
“So Covid killed, but cancer killed more. These are the frank discussions that we need to have because, yes, while there are pandemics and communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, are still killing more people in lower or middle-income countries, especially in Africa,” Hansen shared.
What makes this worse, Hansen explained, is that some cancer patients in Namibia stopped receiving treatment because they could not or did not want to travel to a treatment facility during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hansen also said that the financial implications of cancer are also very worrisome as cancer screenings, treatments and rehabilitation can be costly.
Moreover, he added, Sub-Saharan Africa also lacks rehabilitation centres for cancer patients.
All of these lacks, Hansen explained, make the fight against cancer challenging by making it difficult to measure, control and treat cancer in Namibia and other Sub-Saharan African countries.
He emphasised the need to have frank conversations on these topics, to raise awareness and affect change.
