Paul Chilwesa, Board Member of Madison Life Insurance Company Zambia Limited – MLife, shared on LinkedIn:
“During our conversations with health leaders and experts at the World Health Organization African Region RC76 one operational reality consistently came to the fore:
we cannot shift cancer survival curves across the continent while early diagnosis remains confined to tertiary hospitals.
The front line must move directly to Primary Health Care (PHC).
This conviction underpins WHO AFRO’s technical guide: Evaluation and Workup of Suspected Breast Cancer Using a Primary Health Care Approach.
Through Roche Africa’s collaboration and founding sponsorship of the WHO AFRO’s Women’s Integrated Cancer Services (WICS) initiative across Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe, we see the immediate impact of removing patient friction.
When a woman visits a WICS-supported facility, a single appointment covers a breast examination, cervical cancer screening, blood pressure check and diabetes evaluation, alleviating the workforce challenges.
Framed within Roche’s overarching Africa Breast Cancer Ambition (ABCA), this collaboration demonstrates how integrating cancer screening into primary healthcare strengthens health systems and gives women the possibility of better outcomes.
This new WHO publication standardises that primary-care workflow across three priorities:
- Closing the stage gap: Moving breast cancer detection from Stage 4 emergency care to Stage 1 primary intervention, where cure rates are highest and costs are lowest.
- Decentralising clinical competence: Equipping community health workers with standardised workup pathways so quality care is available locally.
- Protecting economic productivity: Preventing advanced disease from placing severe financial strains on families and national health budgets.”
You can access the full framework here:
You can also read :New Findings on Civic Engagement and Breast Cancer Screening – American Cancer Society Journals
