Innocent Peter Uggh: A Journey to Building the Cancer Research Hub in Tanzania

Innocent Peter Uggh, Study Coordinator Research Scientist at Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), shared a post on LinkedIn:

“A Journey to Building the Cancer Research Hub in Tanzania.

I have received a grant from Global Colon Cancer Association to support the development of the colorectal cancer patients navigation tool in Northern Tanzania to be worked under Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI).

Navigation tools defined as ‘Model of care whose goal is to reduce a health disparity in a particular community’ are very important yet scarce toolkits needed among many cancer types patients. It is difficult to have one all fit navigation toolkit due to different cultural practices, changing needs, environments etc. The first patient navigation toolkit was developed by Dr. Harold Freeman in 1990 aimed at reducing the disparities among breast cancer patients whose majority were Black African-American which recorded the success of improving five year mortality rates from 39% to 70% and late stage diagnosis from 50% to 20%.

This shows in fighting cancer where disparities are the highest contributor to mortality rates, and late diagnosis Patient Navigation toolkit are key cornerstone to the fight. It comes at the right time in Tanzania where over the past decade we have witnessed a six fold increase in colorectal cancer cases with over 90% presenting in late stages.

This is a very huge step for me to fight cancer disparities and grow the Cancer Research Hub. I urge other cancer organisations to join the efforts and collaborate on how we can end disparities in cancer.”

Source: Innocent Peter Uggh/Linkedin