Prisca Githuka, Cancer Advocate, Founder of Pink Hearts Cancer Support Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“We are building advanced cancer treatments but are we building systems patients can actually reach?
I had the opportunity to sit on a roundtable on infrastructure and technology for radioligand therapy at WHS Regional Meeting 2026 and that question stayed with me the entire time.
The question that the moderator asked me was:
‘What is the most important thing that a radioligand program in Kenya must get right from day one to make radioligand therapy truly accessible not just technically available to patients outside Nairobi?’
I answered from a very personal place.
Because when we talk about infrastructure, we often mean buildings, machines, systems.
But that’s not how patients experience it.
For a patient, it looks like this:
- Do I even know this treatment exists?
- Has anyone clearly told me where to go?
- Can I afford not just the treatment but the journey to get there?
- If I start, will I be able to finish?
- And closer home, will the social health insurance fund truly cover it, or will I still struggle with out-of-pocket costs?
These are the questions that determine whether access is real.
My take was this:
- Patients must be in the room when decisions are being made from the onset.
Because we see what is easy to miss: where people get lost, what things actually cost, and what patients are often too overwhelmed to ask.
If you involve us late, you may spend years and resources fixing what was missed.
- Communication must be simple and human.
Radioligand therapy can be explained clearly. Patients need understanding, not complexity.
- We must build pathways, not just facilities.
Clear referral systems from counties. Patient navigation that ensures no one is left to figure it out alone.
Because the truth is, many patients don’t miss treatment because it doesn’t exist. They miss it because the system is too hard to move through.
At the end of the day, access is not about how advanced the treatment is, or where the machine sits.
It’s about whether a patient no matter where they live can start treatment, stay on it, and complete it with dignity.”
Martha Wanjiru, Nurse Educator and ToT in Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment of Precancerous Lesions Screening, Cervical Advocate and Champion Kiambu County, Kenya, shared the post by Prisca Githuka, adding:
“Congratulations Prisca, we are proud of you, keep souring.”
Other articles featuring Prisca Githuka and Martha Wanjiru on OncoDaily.
