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In Tanzania, cancer has become a real public health problem.
Like other non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, cancer affects more and more people, especially women. However, the fight against this disease, poorly understood by the communities, remains delicate while the stakes are high. On the one hand, false beliefs, myths and religious excesses, sources of misinformation do not allow the population to correctly understand the disease and keep it away from health centers and therefore from screening and treatment. On the other hand, Tanzania, like many African countries, is confronted with major infectious diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria, which despite themselves overshadow non-communicable diseases. And certain figures are there to remind us of these shortcomings.
In Tanzania, more than 60% of patients do not have access to screening and therefore do not know their status. 80% of cancers are diagnosed at advanced stages. Faced with this challenge, the country has therefore decided to act with the establishment of a Global Cancer Control Project. A 13 million euro, four-year project launched in 2020, financed mainly by France via the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Agha Khan Foundation, and implemented by the Institut Curie. Objectives: to improve cancer screening and treatment, by combating misinformation and strengthening the country’s equipment.
Report fromIgor Strauss.
(Rebroadcast from January 10, 2022)