Journalist Krista Mahr, writing in the British Guardian newspaper recently, reported that cancer rates are on the rise in Tanzania.
Mahr wrote, “Tanzania’s only internationally trained medical oncologist, Dr Nestory Masalu…in 2010…saw 320 cancer cases. Last year, he and his colleagues saw 14,000.” In a period of six years cancer cases at Bugando have increased over 40 times.
So is true that cancer rates in Tanzania are rapidly increasing?
Pesacheck investigated and found that the claim is TRUE for the following reasons:
During World Cancer day last year, the executive director at Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) Dr Julius Mwaisegale explained that cancer cases at ORCI had increased from 2,500 to 56,000 cases in the period between 2005 and 2015.
The Kilimanjaro Cancer Registry (KCR) at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) reported over 8,000 cancer cases between 2013 and 2014 in Kilimanjaro alone.
The government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has acknowledged that “cancer is a major public health problem in Tanzania.” Earlier this year The Citizen, a local newspaper, reported that the number of cancer patients recorded at ORCI has been increasing significantly over the years. Stating that at least 5,244 cases were recorded in 2015 which was an increase from 4,195 in 2014 and a recorded 3,776 in 2013.
It was reported that the director of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Ministry of Health, Professor Ayoub Maghimba, said that the increase of cancer cases is due to “bad lifestyles” and late discovery of cancers because “70 per cent of patients go to ORCI when it has already spread”.
The claim that cancer rates are soaring in Tanzania is therefore true. The two major medical centres which provide cancer diagnostic and treatment services in the country have both reported an increase in the number of patients found with cancer. Kilimanjaro Cancer Register, another medical centre, has also recorded high numbers of cancer patients in the region.
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This report was written by PesaCheck Fellow Mwegelo Kapinga who is a development consultant, researcher and writer. Mwegelo has previously worked for Twaweza East Africa as a research analyst. The infographics are by PesaCheck Fellow Brian Wachanga, who is a Kenyan civic technologist interested in data visualisation. This report was edited by PesaCheck Co-ordinator/Editor Florence Sipalla in consultation with Code for Tanzania Fellow, Omar Mohammed.