Doing everyone’s bit to fight cancer

The cold morning of Saturday, August 25, came along with the news of the death of the principal medical officer in charge of mental health and substance abuse at the Ministry of Health, Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi. The 62-year-old’s passing was a blow to the ministry as she had been a strong fighter and advocate for the passing of the Tobacco Control Act.

So vocal was she about getting it to be an Act that she was not afraid to clash with companies and authority figures, privately and publicly. Her work in advocating for mental health awareness and treatment was also well-known.

Ndyanabangi’s death also reminded many of the death of Dr Margaret Mungherera, the country’s senior consultant psychiatrist in February last year. Mungherera, who was also an advocate in her own right, especially for the betterment of welfare of medical staff in the country, also passed on, on a Saturday. Both formidable women died from cancer.

On the very day that Ndyanabangi breathed her last, thousands of people in different parts of the country participated in the seventh edition of the Rotary Cancer Run. The run organised by Centenary Bank and Rotary Uganda, which drew many people from different walks of life, collected up to Shs773m.

The run is carried out to collect funds to buy equipment for the Nsambya Cancer Ward. Previous runs have seen a lot of money collected (last year’s run got Shs1.1 billion) and so the organisers as well as participants should be applauded.
Nevertheless, more needs to be done. The Rotary Cancer Run is seeking to collect Shs18 billion in total. Also, although the Uganda Cancer Institute mandated with the job to provide research and treatment for cancer in the country, continues to provide services, they are faced with many challenges.

The fight against cancer, therefore, needs to be fought jointly by the government, private actors and citizens. Awareness campaigns need to take on an even more urgent tone.

Early screening is known to help deal with the disease and so people must be encouraged to take advantage of this. The government might not have enough money to treat every patient, but by letting as many people as possible to know what they can do to prevent cancer, and how they can support their loved ones who fall ill, they will have come a long way.

Individually, citizens should also take the challenge to educate themselves on the disease and teach others. The passing on of Ndyanabangi and many others before her should be a wakeup call to each and everyone to do our bit in the fight against cancer.