BY BETELHEM BEDLU
Globally, more than two million women are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer each year, yet where a woman lives largely determines whether she will develop one of these cancers, have access to timely and effective diagnostic and treatment services, and ultimately survive, as studies indicate. This is particularly striking for cervical cancer, as approximately 85 percent of women diagnosed and 88 percent of women who die from cervical cancer live in a Low and Middle Income Countries, as to same source.
According to National Library of Medicine, breast and cervical cancers are the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the leading causes of cancer death among women in Ethiopia and in other parts of sub- Saharan Africa, accounting for about half of all cancer cases and deaths.
These two cases have significant public health and societal implications not only because they represent more than half of all cancer cases in women; but also because they most frequently occur in young or middle age when patients are in the workforce, raising children and supporting other family members.
The morbidity and mortality associated with breast and cervical cancer can be mitigated through early detection and receipt of evidence-based, high-quality care. However, based on limited data, a substantial proportion of women with breast and cervical cancer in Ethiopia present with advanced-stage disease.
For instance, about 71 percent of the breast cancer cases and 84 percent of cervical cancer cases in Ethiopia were diagnosed at advanced stage largely because of prolonged patient intervals in seeking medical care after recognition of symptoms and provider/ health systems intervals in referral of patients to cancer treatment centers.
Further, most women with breast and cervical cancer in the country do not receive treatments consistent with the global standard of care.
In Ethiopia, an estimated number of 7,000 women visit healthcare centers each year for cervical cancer treatment care, said Dr. Andualem Deneke, Chief Executive Officer of Addis Ababa University’s College of Health Sciences.
Speaking to the Ethiopian Press Agency, Dr. Andualem further indicated that understanding the negative impact of the diseases, Black Lion Specialized Hospital joining hands with partners such as Churchill Health Center, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa City Administration’s Health Bureau and Germany’s EFKS Foundation support, has started providing breast and cervical cancer care service to women at Churchill One-Stop Breast and Cervical Cancer Clinic in the Capital.
Taking in to account that financial constraint is the major bottleneck to early detect, diagnose and start treatment, applying activities which are less costly was given priority. Thus, the first thing that came in to force, according to him, was applying an asset mapping.
Through this, number of activities has been carried out, one of which had been collecting machineries from different hospitals and doing maintenance to repair the defects in a matter the equipment can provide the services again.
Despite this, activities such as renovation of rooms, and provision of basic trainings for employees were carried out, he noted. What is more, a plan is also set to deliver technical trainings by professionals who have long years of experience in the service.
Other than this, one of the factors that remained to be the major challenge was inaccessibility to safe and affordable diagnostic and treatment services. In this regard, the major advantage of the center is providing One-Stop Breast and Cervical Cancer treatment services, Dr. Andualem remarked.
Similarly, given the fact that the hospital is a teaching hospital; it enables the center to have specialists and subspecialists that can serve the patients.
Though cervical as well as breast cancers are the leading causes of death among women in most developing countries, if they are identified at their earliest stage, they can be treated well; and can increase the chances of being healed from the illness.
As to him, cancer screening tests and early detection is much helpful to diagnose and treat cancer. By detecting the stages of the disease at an early stage, (the level of spreading to other organs) it provides chance for a cure.
It is important to note that screening is an important control and prevention strategy that is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for all women aged 30 years and older, and even earlier for some high-risk women. Owing to this fact, the center provides screening service as well as diagnosis services for its patients.
For his take on the issue, Dr. Lemma Abraham, Medical Director of Churchill Health Center and One-Stop Breast and Cervical Cancer Clinic on his part mentioned that besides the support that the Clinic got from AAU, Martin Luther King Foundation from Germany, Arada Sub City Health Bureau, Black Lion Specialized Hospital have also provided the Center with different medical machineries.
Dr. Lemma, he is also Director of the Center, added that since the breast cancer treatment service came in to force in April 2021, close to 668 women were screened while over 306 women were screened for cervical cancer since it was started in March 2020, according to the MD.
Although positive outcomes are being witnessed, he mentioned that there are still challenges that need to be addressed in order to provide standardized treatment for patients.
As to him, even if the government has allocated huge land for the Center, unfortunately there is no one that is willing to take the leading role to build the Center. Basically, the health center has more than 30 thousand citizens it majorly serves excluding the patients who come for the specialty service, he further noted.
Having this amount of citizens getting medical services from the health center by itself is a great deal let alone the patients who seek specialty care services, he underlined.
Following this, he added: “We are undertaking several renovation activities though there is still shortage of rooms.”
Similarly, the other underlying problem that the Center is facing is the absence of adequate medical equipment; he noted, adding that they have requested the materials from the concerned institutions such as Ministry of Health.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 14 JULY 2022
