Meru County Health CECM, Dr. Dennis Mugambi presided over the flagging off of a mobile endoscopy truck for screening for the cancer of the oesophagus. The event took place at Mwariama Stadium, Meru County where screening for other cancers was also launched. In his remarks during the flagging off ceremony, Dr. Mugambi noted that the ongoing endoscopy screenings for the cancer of the oesophagus in Meru County courtesy of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the partners including The University of Manchester, KUTRRH, Manchester Cancer Research Centre, The Christie and Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trusts will go a long way in providing much needed access to the sub-county levels. This from his observations is not only providing much needed opportunities for early detection but also supplementing a constrained capacity for diagnostic services at the County.
Dr. Mugambi urged residents of the county to utilize the recruitment period offered by the research project between 22nd April and 9th May to avail themselves at the nearest level 3 and level 4 hospitals to be checked for onward referral for endoscopy screenings. He further lauded participation by both private and faith-based health facilities in the county in their support for health outreach.
In remarks read on her behalf by the Director, Training & Research, Dr. Caroline Ngugi, KUTRRH CEO, Dr. Zeinab Gura expressed appreciation to the support extended by the NIHR and partnership with The University of Manchester as well as participating Counties and collaborating institutions including JKUAT, National Cancer Institute and KEMRI for making the project rollout a success. Dr. Gura singled out Meru County for the immense support extended to the research team which has led to the progress realized. She reiterated her commitment to foster closer cooperation to address health challenges including collaborative research.
Oesophageal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in Kenya and the third leading cause of death. Unlike other cancers, it has the highest mortality rates largely owing to late diagnosis. This hampers attainment of positive health outcomes as reflected high mortality rates.
The free screening services for oesophageal cancer are part of ongoing research funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and implemented by The University of Manchester in partnership with Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH) through a hub and spoke model. Meru County is one of the participating counties as spokes for the project. The project also draws collaboration from KEMRI, JKUAT, MKU, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The ongoing project is anchored on three (3) core aims. The first aim entails community engagement and involvement to learn the early signs and symptoms of oesophageal cancer, understanding accessibility of cancer services to community members, and how to build an effective awareness campaign and recruit to a screening service for oesophageal. The second aim entails clinical outcomes unit and telemedicine to establish whether endoscopy screening and early diagnosis in a Hub and spoke model enable best clinical outcome for patients with oesophageal cancer. The third aim of the project involves pathology and early detection signatures through building capacity for high-throughput analysis of specimens to improve early detection of oesophageal cancer, learn about what mutational signatures tell us about the aetiology of oesophageal cancer in Kenya, and find out how the biology of oesophageal cancer in Kenya differs from that in other countries.
