Access to cancer screening, treatment still poor in Africa — WHO

The World Health Organisation says people have limited access to cancer screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment in many communities in African countries.

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, in her message to mark this year’s World Cancer Day, said only about 30% of African children diagnosed with cancer survived, compared to 80% of children in high-income economies.

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Moeti said challenges in access to cancer care were further compounded in times of crisis like the current COVID-19 pandemic.

She said: “The African region also bears the highest burden of cervical cancer among WHO regions, and so the World Health Assembly’s adoption in 2020 of the global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem was of key relevance to African countries.”