Kenya’s critical role in global health efforts
In countries such as Kenya, access to diagnostic capabilities, quality surgical treatment, essential medication, and radiotherapy facilities remains limited.
What you need to know:
- Alarmingly, the country has one of the highest incidences of oesophageal cancer globally.
- Mortality rates remain high, with over 64 per cent of diagnosed patients dying from the disease.
This year is key in the global health calendar as the world takes stock of the World Health Organisation’s “25 by 25” stretch target, which seeks to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 25 per cent by the end of 2025. The urgency is clear: NCDs cause over 60 per cent of global deaths, with 80 per cent of these occurring in resource-poor countries.
Cancer has emerged as a major challenge. In countries such as Kenya, access to diagnostic capabilities, quality surgical treatment, essential medication, and radiotherapy facilities remains limited. The Covid-19 worsened this crisis, disrupting the global cancer care. Reports indicate that 100 million cancer screening tests were skipped, clinical trials abandoned, and patients presented late or missed treatment altogether.
Globally, while annual cancer deaths have declined, incidence has sharply risen -- by 5 per cent between 2022 and 2023, climbing from 1.9 million to 2 million new cases. And by 2030, new cancer cases could exceed 35 million.
Prevention and treatment
Yet there is hope. Science has begun to unpack the mysteries of cancer biology, democratising knowledge about its onset, growth, and spread. This deeper understanding is fuelling research in prevention and treatment. In 2024, immunotherapy advanced significantly, with trials showing improved survival when immune checkpoint inhibitors were used as adjuvant therapies.
The US FDA approved two new treatments for small cell lung cancer, a disease long resistant to progress. Also, childhood cancers saw progress: a bispecific T-cell engager was approved for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, while investigational CAR T-cell therapy offered hope for children with aggressive brain cancers.
Cellular therapies expanded as well, with tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for advanced melanoma and the first-ever T-cell receptor therapy for synovial sarcoma.
For Kenya, the global conversation is not abstract -- it is deeply personal. The WHO’s Global Cancer Observatory says 44,726 new cases and 29,317 deaths occurred in 2022 alone, with breast, cervical, prostate, and oesophageal cancers leading the burden.
Fight against cancer
Alarmingly, the country has one of the highest incidences of oesophageal cancer globally, accounting for 7.5 per cent of new cases, a situation reflecting unique local risk factors, including dietary patterns and exposure to carcinogens.
Mortality rates remain high, with over 64 per cent of diagnosed patients dying from the disease, reflecting systemic gaps in early detection and treatment capacity.
While Kenya has recently increased its fight against cancer, with the National Cancer Institute responding with targeted research initiatives, through projects such as automated breast cancer screening using AI studies on aflatoxin reduction to prevent gastrointestinal malignancies, and molecular detection of gene fusions in paediatric leukemia, these efforts must be matched with investment in infrastructure.
Charles Onyango, Life Scientist, [email protected]
