PRESS RELEASE
24TH OCTOBER 2011
Kenyan women courting death due to not screening for
breast and cervical cancers.…
Six out of seven women in Kenya have not been screened for breast cancer despite
aggressive and sustained awareness campaigns by government, private hospitals
and NGOs. This was the key finding of a study conducted by Ipsos-Synovate in 13
urban towns in Kenya in the month of October, which is dedicated to raising
awareness and screening for the disease. An almost similar proportion of those
surveyed (83 per cent) had not been screened for cervical cancer or diabetes in the
past year.
In the past one year, have you been screened for any of the following
illnesses / diseases?
YES
100%
85%
NO
83%
83%
80%
60%
40%
20%
15%
17%
17%
0%
Breast cancer
Cervical cancer
Diabetes
Base: n=703 (All respondents)
These findings suggest a policy failure in the current awareness and prevention
strategies being employed to tackle these diseases. Even more worrying, these
findings come amid a backdrop of the first global analysis of incidence and mortality
trends for breast and cervical cancers over the last 30 years which shows that the
two cancers are on the rise worldwide, with African women most at risk along with
those from other developing countries in East Asia and Latin America.
The research published in the September 2011 issue of the medical journal Lancet,
indicated that in 2010, there were over 1.6 million women diagnosed with breast
cancer, compared to only 641,000 in 1980. The increase in prevalence for cervical
cancer was more modest but the two cancers together accounted for the deaths of
625,000 women in 2010, compared to 424,000 in 1980.
Of more concern to policy makers in Kenya is the finding by researchers that the
burden was uneven, with deaths and incidence rising most in developing countries
but decreasing in industrialised countries. “Women younger than 50 in developing
countries accounted for 23 per cent of global breast cancer deaths and 34 per cent
of global cervical cancer deaths, whereas their peers in developed nations
accounted for 10 per cent of both,” said the Lancet report.
The Ipsos-Synovate survey showed that older women were more likely to have
been screened for breast and cervical cancer than their younger counterparts.
Overall, women in Kisumu led when it came to screening with a quarter having been
screened for breast cancer and almost one third (30 per cent) having been
screened for cervical cancer. Ironically, the town trails when it comes to screening
for diabetes with only nine per cent of women there having gone through the
procedure over the last year.
Garissa was the worst as none of the women surveyed had been screened for
breast cancer and only 13 per cent for diabetes. “The remoteness of the area has
affected provision of all health services so these findings were not surprising,” says
Maggie Ireri, managing director, Ipsos-Synovate Kenya.
“Overall, only a quarter of the women in our survey have no formal schooling. The
fact that so few women in the total population have screened for these three
diseases despite the concerted campaigns to enhance awareness point to a serious
problem. These are women in urban areas with access to most communication
channels but the message about the seriousness of these diseases, especially
breast and cervical cancer is not sinking in,” she says.
The Synovate study was conducted in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Embu, Nakuru,
Meru, Nyeri, Thika, Machakos, Kakamega, Kisii, Garissa and Eldoret.
Afya Kenya Foundation estimates that one in nine women develop breast cancer
during their lifetime, and about one third succumb to the disease. “Breast cancer is
commonly found among women with a family history of breast cancer in first degree
relatives which means one’s mother or sister. Other groups include older women
and although it rarely develops before 25, women below that age have been known
to get the disease,” says Oduwo Noah Akala, chairman of the Foundation. Women
with no children have a higher risk of contracting breast cancer as are those who
are obese, having their first child after the age of 30 and smokers, he adds.
About the survey:
The target population for this survey was adult urban females in Kenya aged 18 and
above. A sample size of 703 respondents was as per the 2009 census data. The
margin of error attributed to sampling and other random effects of this poll’s sample
size is +/- 3.7% margin at 95% confidence level. This sample size is large enough
to make reliable estimates on the target population opinion at a national level. The
fieldwork for this survey was conducted between 11th and 19th October 2011. Data
was collected through telephonic interviews from the Ipso-Synovate CATI polling
centre.
For further details please contact:
Maggie Ireri
Managing Director
Ipsos-Synovate (Kenya)
Tel: + 254 20 4450 196
Maggie.Ireri@synovate.com
Reference:
The Lancet; Source reference: Forouzanfar MH, et al “Breast and cervical cancer in 187 countries
between 1980 and 2010: a systematic analysis” Lancet 2011; DOI: 10.1016/S0140- 6736(11)613512.; Additional source: The Lancet; Source reference: Coebergh JW “What global protection against
women's cancers?” Lancet 2011; DOI: 10.1016/S0140- 6736(11)61459-1.