Tanzania: State Assures House On Cancer Diagnosis

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Habel Chidawali

30 June 2011

Dodoma — The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has a good programme for diagnosing breast and prostate cancers which enables it reach people up to the grassroots.The deputy minister, Dr Lucy Nkya, said here yesterday that in implementing the programme, the government would work closely with three institutions.

She was answering a question from MP Shaffin Sumar (Tabora North – CCM) who wanted to know government plans to assist people in rural areas to deal with the disease.

The deputy minister said the government was aware that services for incurable diseases should be offered from the grassroots level to the top level so as to build a good system of dealing with such diseases.

She named the institutions as Qaugen from UK, Meck from US and UCC from Switzerland. She said these will be engaged in research and analysis of the diseases.She said the programme aims to assist school children get vaccines against cervical cancer as well as tests for breast cancer and those for prostate cancer for adults.

The deputy minister said there were plans to train more people in the field in order to have more experts in cancer and related diseases.According to Dr Nkya, current services to cancer patients are offered by the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam only.She said the ministry was going on with efforts to educate wananchi on how to avoid contracting the disease.

AllAfrica – All the Time