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workers between private and public hospitals in South Africa is an indication of gross inequality, as most highly skilled medical professionals serve a minority of the population who often have medical insurance.”

“Africa as a whole, for example, has one healthcare worker for approximately 1,000 people, South Africa being no different. This figure falls far short of the set standard of 2.5 health workers per 1,000 individuals that is required to provide basic health care.”

Estimates reveal that over 80% of the South African population is uninsured.

In another paper presented at the global conference, Cape Town’s Dr. Salome Meyer, a consultant to the South African Cancer Alliance, revealed there was no national cancer control plan in South Africa. The Strategic Framework and policies ‘will not alleviate the current cancer care gaps as provincial health departments are not instructed to prioritize implementation of cancer policies in health budgets,’ she asserted.

Elsewhere in Africa, the first lady of Niger state, Nigeria, concurred that governments invest too little in cancer care. “In Nigeria we have a Cancer Control Plan, but it has not been implemented.”

Meanwhile, cancer’s high mortality rate shows no signs of abating. On the contrary, it now surpasses other highly prevalent local non-communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, and malaria, according to Medical Brief, an academic enewsletter published in Cape Town.

IN NIGERIA, 72,000 CANCER DEATHS ANNUALLY AND RISING

(GIN)—Nigeria has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the world, with an estimated 72,000 cancer deaths occurring annually and 102,000 new cases diagnosed from its population of 200 million people, according to a report in Frontiers in Oncology.

Breast cancer accounted for the highest mortality, followed by prostate cancer. “There is no efficient public policy on cancer issues,” says Chioma Obinna, writer of Good Health Weekly for Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper. “And cancer mortality among Nigerians continues to rise despite improvements in cancer care across the world.”

She cites the case of Nkechi Odogwu, diagnosed with stage 1 cancer but who lost the battle for life due to prolonged appointments, breakdown of equipment and the high cost of care, among other treatment challenges.

“Federal and state governments are still paying lip service to issues around health,” she says disappointedly.

“Nigeria was part of the historic 2001 Abuja Declaration which mandates African Union member states to allocate a minimum of 15% of their national budgets to health care,” noted Obinna, “but Nigeria never fulfilled this recommendation.”

“The national health budgetary allocation for 2022 is below 6% even as political office holders continue to fly abroad for medical treatment, depleting the country’s foreign reserve and worsening the medical tourism problem that consumes over $1 billion annually.”

Financing cancer management is a major challenge for both patients and their caregivers. Cancer care also results in a loss of economic income available to the community/country. “The cost of treating cancer remains prohibitive,” Obinna says. “Most Nigerians pay outof-pocket for their medical treatment as the National Health Insurance Scheme has failed woefully.”

Specialty care such as radiotherapy costs about $2.3 million per person per treatment cycle at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Radiotherapy is vital during cancer treatment as 70% of cancer patients have multiple sessions in the process of cure. Only three public radiotherapy machines are working at full capacity.

The others, scattered in the 20 university teaching hospitals in the 36 states of the country, including Federal Capital Territory, are either obsolete or in comatose.

A couple of private hospitals in the country have serviceable radiotherapy machines but they are beyond the reach of average Nigerians.

Similarly, in Libya, the president of the Libyan Union for Cancer Control, Asmaa Jumaa Jouili, faults the government for insufficient spending on cancer. “The Ministry of Health has failed but our work with the awareness campaign involves over a thousand volunteers. Fortunately, we do not depend on ministries or government departments.” According to the World Health Organization, at least 44,699 women died of cancer in 2021.

(GIN)