VICE-President, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan, has said the government is firm
on cutting down costs for cervical and breast cancer services as it
advocates for more pre-screening health centres.
Launching a breast and cervical cancer
screening at the Furahisha square yesterday, Ms Samia expressed the
government’s determination to deal with diverse challenges in the health
sector; including cutting down cost for cervical and breast cancer
treatment to enable women enhance their health status.
“I go for regular health checkups as it
put me in a better position to deal with diseases if any, including
breast and cervical cancer,” said Samia.
The free screening event was organized
by Medical Women Association of Tanzania (MEWATA), where the
vice-president said lack of knowledge about cervical and breast cancer,
local beliefs about the diseases, stigma as well as minimal health
centers for radiotherapy screening are among challenges in dealing with
the disease.
She said the challenges have been
leading to many deaths because they are diagnosed when cancer is at an
advanced stage where it cannot be cured.
She said that the government in
recognizing the importance of serving women recognize the challenges
that have been addressed by putting plans to stop cervical and breast
cancer in collaboration with different stake-holders including MEWATA to
make sure that screening services are sustainable.
The VP assured stakeholders that the
government will continue to support these efforts by setting aside more
budget for the health sector in order to enhance cervical and breast
cancer services at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute and at the same time
establish radiotherapy services at Bugando Medical Center (BMC) Mwnza
and KCMC in Kilimanjaro regions in order to reduce waiting queues at the
Ocean Road institute.
Ms Samia noted that Mwanza Region has
made different campaigns that facilitated to reach over 70,000 women who
screened for breast cancer and 16,000 women for cervical cancer last
year.
The Minister for health, Community
Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu said the
condition of cervical cancer is alarming, as statistics indicate that
over 80 percent of cervical cancer happens in underdeveloped countries.
She said that Tanzania is among
countries with a big number of cervical cancer patients and is leading
in East Africa. Statistics show that 6241 women are found with cervical
cancer every year, and out of this number 4355 are dying.
source- www.dailynews.co.tz
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