Free Cancer Tests At Bulawayo Hospital

UNITED Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) has included the testing of cancer as part of their health programme, which has been operating annually under the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

Before, the health programme tested pregnant women for HIV to prevent mother-to-child transmission, checked blood pressure and counselled pregnant women.

The move is welcome with very little attention being given to non-communicable diseases in developing countries. Cancer globally kills more people than HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria put together. With an increase in cases in Africa cancer is no longer a western disease of the affluent.

This article in the Guardian published last year gives some grim details on the effect that cancer is having on Africa, chief among them being cost issues.

Early testing is known to help treat cancer or at least afford a certain level of comfort. Zimbabwe is part of Africa so the fact that UBH has removed the cost component to testing means that more people who would have been scared off by this factor are able to gain access to these services.

Sources: The Guardian, Byo 24