Treatment of non-communicable diseases: Radiotherapy services in Mozambique

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Treatment of non-communicable diseases: Radiotherapy services in Mozambique

11:37 CAT | 18 Jul 2017

Noticias

The cost of cancer treatment may fall in Mozambique soon with the setting up radiotherapy services.

According to Lídia Chongo, Deputy National Director of Planning and Cooperation at the Ministry of Health, the infrastructure is almost complete, and the equipment necessary for the country to start offering these services is now being installed.

Patients with cancer in Mozambique have until now been obliged to seek treatment abroad.

“To get radiotherapy, patients needed to go abroad, at high cost. We believe that these radiotherapy services will reduce not only the costs of treatment but also deaths and patients’ suffering,” Chongo said.

Speaking at the Health Planning and Budgeting Meeting in Maputo on Friday, Chongo said that the fight against cancer and other non-communicable diseases would be a priority for the health sector in the coming years.

According to Chongo, non-communicable pathologies are becoming more and more common in Mozambique, requiring redoubled effort to control them.

The 2015 Prevalence of Hypertension and Diabetes Risk Factors Study (STEPS) shows that diabetes and hypertension rose from 3.8 and 35 percent respectively in 2005 to approximately 7.4 and 39 percent in 2015.

“We are seeing non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular, hypertension, diabetes, asthma and in particular cancer began to emerge in Mozambique. We have designed our programs to track these pathologies, especially cervical and breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, to ensure they have pro-active treatment,” Chongo said.

Source: Notícias