BY RICHARD MWANGULUBE
Cancer has shown to affect Maasai herders more with doctors hinting at over consumption of raw meat, unboiled milk and a harsher living environment as possible causes.
Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) Executive Director, Prof Gileard Masenga, told journalists recently that they received more than 6,000 cancer patients annually, including about 40 per cent children below age 15. Over 60 per cent of the patients required radiotherapy treatment, he added.
“Preliminary assessments indicate that some Maasai pastoral communities are among groups showing relatively higher numbers of cancer cases in the Northern Zone,” Prof Masenga said. However, he cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions without full scientific studies involving the whole country.
He explained that the availability of radiotherapy services at KCMC has improved the detection and diagnosis of cancer cases as he encouraged more patients to seek early treatment at the Moshi-based Lutheran Church zonal referral hospital.
Currently, KCMC provides comprehensive radiotherapy services, unlike in the past whereby patients had to travel some 600 kilometres to the government run Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) in Dar es Salaam for treatment.
However, the Professor lamented that KCMC continued to receive patients, especially children, in late stages of the disease. He revealed that the hospital has partnered with the Arusha-based Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NMAIST) through its Atomic Energy Department to fight cancer in Tanzania.
According to 2012 Ministry of Health statistics, Tanzania recorded 33,884 cancer cases, with 23,648 deaths, showing almost 70 per cent mortality rate during the year. The figures further indicated that cancer accounted for about six per cent of all hospital deaths, making the disease one of Tanzania’s major public health challenges.
As part of efforts to fight the disease, NMAIST has provided medical equipment, training and specialised radiotherapy experts to the other referral hospitals in Mbeya in southern Tanzania and the Catholic Church owned Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in Mwanza that largely serves the Lake Zone, which is reportedly another area with higher incidences of cancer in the country.
