Kenya Records 2,127 Cancer Cases And 2,068 Deaths Annually

According to a 5-year study submitted by Dr. Mohamed Maalim during the recent Kenya International Cancer Conference, detailed worrying statistics touching on Kenya’s youth.

It is estimated that about 30 percent of the patients were less than 50 years, which is a new trend as a previous study had shown no patients below that age.

According to the study, stomach cancer cases in Kenya are growing. With an estimated 2,127 new cases and  2,068 deaths every year, Kenya has the highest numbers in Africa.

The report revealed that younger patients tend to have an aggressive form of the disease with about 38 percent of the patients diagnosed when the disease had progressed extensively to nearby organs.

The study reveals that patients below 40 years of age had a worse survival rate, further bucking the previous trend in which the elderly were the hardest hit.

Stomach or gastric cancer normally starts with persistent abdominal pain and vomiting with significant weight loss recorded in other patients. H pylori infection has also been identified as a major cause of this type of cancer.

Dr. Maalim said that most of the young patients are often misdiagnosed as having common digestive issues and that by the time the correct diagnosis is made, cancer has already metastasized to other organs.

“Stage 3 and stage 4 cancers amounted to over 79 percent of the patients in the study,” reads an excerpt from the report.

Stomach cancer has a 5-year survival rate of only 23 percent meaning that 77 percent of patients die within 5 years of diagnosis.