Cancer Prevalence in Wajir County, Kenya: Estimation Using Cancer Data at the Healthcare Facilities
Abstract
In Kenya, Cancer is the third highest cause of mortality (7% of deaths per year), after infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Cancer diagnosis and treatment is facing serious challenges in Kenya where the treatment facilities are inadequate, unavailable or ill equipped. The cancer prevalence and burden in Wajir County, Kenya is largely unknown since there are no records, studies or information available. The purpose of this study was therefore to estimate cancer prevalence in Wajir County based on the cancer data available at the healthcare facilities in the County. The study was guided by the following specific objectives; to estimate the prevalence rates of cancer in Wajir County based on demographic characteristics; to identify the prevalent cancer cases and their types in the area and to examine trends in cancer prevalence over the period 2014 to 2019. This study used quantitative method approach to collect and analyze the data. Facility-based retrospective record review was employed to estimate the prevalence of cancer in Wajir County between 2014 and 2019. The target population included all the cancer patients served between 2014 through 2019 at all the health facilities in all the six sub counties in Wajir County. This study used secondary data collected by reviewing cancer patients’ records at the facilities. The quantitative data obtained from the records was analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS version 25.0. Results were presented on tables, charts and bars. The findings revealed that the recorded cancer cases were more prevalent among women (50.20%) than men (49.80%). Regarding age distribution, the study found that most (23%) of the patients were aged between 51-60 years, 20.3% were aged between 61-70 years, 12.5% were aged between 41-50 years, while 4.4% were aged between 10-20 years. The findings indicated that only 1.2% of the cases were aged at least 90 years. In terms of prevalence, the study found that the top six most prevalent types of cancer in the county were; cancer of the oesophagus (69.3%) as the most prevalent type of cancer in the region, this was followed by cancer of the stomach (10.4%), prostate cancer (8.6%), cancer of the cervix (3.5%) and cancer of the liver at 1.1%. The study further established that there was consistent increase in cancer cases in Wajir County over the six year period. The rise in cancer cases was attributed to poor health seeking behaviour among the population, lack of essential facilities and inadequate awareness among the population. The study therefore recommends that there is need to strengthen the health system on cancer management particularly on screening services and creation of cancer awareness among the population in Wajir County. Additionally, the study recommends that there is need to conduct further studies on cancer prevalence based on the population to determine the pattern of the disease geographically in Wajir County.
Keywords: Cancer, Prevalence, Estimation, Cancer Data, Healthcare Facilities, Wajir
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