Merck partners with Ugandan Health Ministry to tackle cancer awareness
pharmafile | February 8, 2016 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications | Africa, Cancer, Merck
Germany’s Merck celebrated World Cancer Day by collaborating with the Uganda Ministry of Health to raise awareness about early detection and prevention of cancer in the heart of Africa.
Rasha Kelej, chief social officer of Merck Healthcare, comments: “We have no doubt that in order to prevent and reduce the death rate from cancer and other non- communicable diseases, we will need to see collaboration and collective action from Health Ministries, Governments, NGOs, Academia, media and industry. The size and complexity of the task is so large that no single institution can manage on its own, so integration of effort is necessary to improve access to sustainable cancer care in Africa”.
“We believe that prevention is better than cure, so today Merck joins hands with Ministry of Health to raise cancer awareness in the rural areas of Uganda,” he adds.
Merck has so far reached more than 4,000 Ugandans, to enable them to prevent the diseases and give them advice on how to lead healthier lives. By 2018, the company aims to reach 100,000 community members through its combined diabetes and cancer awareness campaigns as part of its Merck Cancer Control Program (MCCP).
At the launch of the campaign, Ugandan State of Health Minster, Sarah Opendi, noted a key challenge that the majority of cancer patients in the country report to health facilities when cancer is in the advanced, and often untreatable stage, by which time it is usually too late to save the patient’s life. This is in part due to the fact that the cancers are often symptomless in the early stages, but also due to what Opendi called “poor health seeking behaviours” in Uganda.
The Minister continues: “According to WHO, over one third of cancer deaths are due to preventable causes such as viral infection, poor nutrition and widespread tobacco use. It is important to note that once diagnosed early cancer can be treated and cured. Uganda, just like other developing countries, faces a wide range of health system challenges, and cancer is often not a priority in limited resource settings. Therefore the Ministry of Health appreciates private public partnerships with reputable companies like Merck to promote key health guidelines and raise awareness about cancer, so that people learn how to detect and prevent it.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2020, there are expected to be 16 million new cases of cancer every year, and 70% of these will be in developing countries where governments are least prepared to address the growing cancer burden and where survival rates are currently often less than half those of more developed countries.
Joel Levy
Related Content
TILT Biotherapeutics shares data on TILT-123 with Keytruda for ovarian cancer treatment
TILT Biotherapeutics has announced promising preliminary safety and efficacy data from its ongoing phase 1 …
Geneos Therapeutics shares data from phase 1/2 trial for cancer vaccine
Geneos Therapeutics has announced that it has published positive safety, immunogenicity and efficacy data from …
FDA approves Merck’s Winrevair for PAH treatment
Merck, known as MSD outside of the US and Canada, has announced that the US …
