KENYA: Stone crushing provides alternative employment for women in Juba, south Sudan

Record ID: 361805

  • Title: KENYA: Stone crushing provides alternative employment for women in Juba, south Sudan
  • Date: 28th October 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION, BETH MUGO, SAYING: "... the cost of medication and that's why we would like to appeal to the international community to reduce the cost of these medicines because they are extremely expensive considering the budgetary constraints of other areas such as education and so forth."
  • Embargoed: 12th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA36OXCI9X9V8U4HIOFK7MMUW5Q
  • Story Text: Breast cancer survivors in Kenya are trying to spread awareness about a disease that kills about 400,000 women globally each year and which, until recently, had not received much attention in Africa.
    At home in Nairobi, Kenya, 47-year-old Catherine Ngaracu is having breakfast with her mother. Catherine looks fine now but she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. She had to have a mastectomy -- a surgical procedure in which most or all of the breast tissue is removed.
    One in nine Kenyan women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Most don't have the financial resources to deal with the disease, while some find out when it is already too late.
    Catherine was one of the lucky ones.

    "My cancer was early stage, so after finishing with the surgeon he referred me to an oncologist, who I went to see and after that, went through the regime of treatments. So he told me I'll have six cycles of chemotherapy and then after we are done we will know whether we will do radiotherapy, and I told him look, what do you normally do? So he says normally I would give chemo six cycles depending and your stage is early stage and then radiotherapy 25 session, I said we are doing everything. I'm not taking any chances,"
    said Ngaracu.
    Every year breast cancer kills about 400,000 women globally. In Kenya, it is the second most diagnosed form of cancer today.
    This is why the Kenya Breast Health Program - a local NGO run by women cancer survivors like Catherine, organized a five kilometre walk in the capital to raise awareness about the disease.
    About 1,500 people paid around 12 US dollars to attend this year's event. All the money raised goes towards providing free breast examinations in the country.
    Cancer treatment is expensive in Kenya. After surgery, patients must go through hormonal, radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment.
    The cheapest form of chemotherapy or anti-cancer drugs cost about 820 US dollars -- a fee most Kenyans can't afford.
    Kenya's Public Health and Sanitation Minister, Beth Mugo, admits that the coast of the drugs are a challenge. "....that's why we would like to appeal to the international community to reduce the cost of these medicines because they are extremely expensive considering the budgetary constraints of other areas such as education and so forth."
    Kenyan women are being encouraged to learn how to detect breast cancer on their own.
    Josephine Kiarie, a Kenya Breast Health volunteer is teaching students at a public university how to do this.

    "I have learnt that cancer is not only for the older people. It's for even the younger people, the teenagers. And it's not only for the females but also the males. I have also learnt that cancer can be treated, so that is a very good and positive answer to me," said Beatrice Osolo, a student.
    The task ahead for the Kenya Breast Health program is huge. There are millions of women in Kenya's urban and rural areas who are still ignorant about breast cancer and they too need to be made aware. But its a small step in the right direction and the hope is that it will be emulated across Africa.
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