NAMIBIA: First cancer screening facility to open

UNAM opens first cancer

facility facility in Katutura

Katutura children react on top of a platform that will house Namibia's first cancer screening facility in Hakahana.

By Moses Magadza

KATUTURA (7/23/14): The University of Namibia through its School of Medicine is setting up Namibia’s first diagnostic facility for breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer as concerns mount over the prevalence of these cancers in the country and elsewhere in the world.

UNAM officials are working around the clock to ensure that the facility, which is located in the largely informal settlement of Hakahana in Katutura and is one of several planned for different parts of the country, opens to the public soon.

This week builders were putting final touches to the facility, which already has some state of the art screening equipment. The facility comes in the wake of the African First Ladies’ 8th edition of the Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa (SCCA) conference, which was organised by the Forum of African First Ladies Against Breast & Cervical Cancer and the Princess Nikky Breast Cancer Foundation.



DEVELOPMENT: People pose outside the first cancer screening facility being set up in Katutura in Windhoek

UNAM Vice Chancellor Prof Lazarus Hangula says the facility is part of a broader strategy by the national University to take services closer to the people. It will initially offer free walk-in screening services for the three cancers. The university will work with the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Cancer Association of Namibia to do vaccination against viruses that cause cancer of the cervix.

Stressing that prevention is better than cure, Hangula expressed optimism that the new facility would bring about greater access to cancer screening services and save lives.

“The greatest challenge in dealing with cancer is to prevent it through early diagnosis. If we catch it early we can limit its spread and prolong lives,” he said in an interview.

READY: A woman next to cancer screening equipment inside the first cancer screening facility being set up in an impoverished settlement in Katutura, Windheok

Prof Peter Nyarango, the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Founding Dean of the UNAM School of Medicine said UNAM would install a mammography machine, an ultrasound machine and other facilities to take digital pictures to enable diagnosis, initially for breast cancer, which kills millions of women every year in developing countries.

“A little later we will do diagnosis for other cancers. We will not be treating people at first,” Nyarango said.

With respect to breast cancer, Nyarango said UNAM was working towards using modern scientific methods to freeze cancer tumors so that they do not spread.  The university will employ a surgeon, a radiologist and a few nurses to run the Katutura screening facility. Student nurses will also be part of the team.

Expectations are that in the long run the facility would train medical students and serve qualified doctors and nurses who may require refresher courses. Nyarango said this would enable seamless roll out of screening services throughout the country. The next cancer screening facility will be in Oshakati. The process of procuring equipment for it has begun.

UNAM scientists have been conducting research around using mushrooms to prevent cancer.

Prof Philip Odonkor, the Associate Dean of the UNAM School of Medicine described the location of the screening facility in Katutura as “symbolic”.

CLOSER: A man walks towards an informal settlement in Hakahana, Katutura close to the first cancer screening facility being set up in Namibia by UNAM to take health services closer to the people.

He said apart from the fact that this would be the first such facility in Namibia, it would be located in an underprivileged community, putting paid to the global norm under which, until recently, health care has been developed around people who can afford it.

Hakahana is an impoverished informal settlement with barely running water and poor sanitary facilities. It is densely populated by people who fall into the low-income category.



Prof Philip Odonkor

Odonkor called for “education, education and education to create awareness” and said people must be assisted to know more about themselves and to determine what to do next should they detect problems.

Nyarango said the setting up of the screening facility demonstrates that the university and its School of Medicine were not “ivory towers”.

“The role of a medical school is to develop models that would help ordinary people overcome systematic limitations that jinx access to quality health care. “

With respect to prostate cancer, health experts say that every male is at risk of developing it, with the lifetime risk estimated at almost 100 percent. The risk is particularly high in there is a family history of prostate cancer. Experts recommend that every man above 35 years of age should go for regular check-up, ideally once a year.

HAPPY: A woman sits next to equipment in the first cancer screening facility being set up by UNAM in Katutura to bridge the gap between the poor and quality health services.

In a major breakthrough, medical scientists recently discovered a vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV) which protects against cervical cancer if administered to girls aged 12 to 13 years. While experts say it is effective, it is not yet widely administered.

Experts advocate that girls who have reached puberty should start going for regular check-ups for breast cancer. Some experts say that ideally, young girls should be trained to examine themselves for breast cancer symptoms.

-moses.magadza@gmail.com