Advancing Cancer Care and Control in Africa
Our core values in advancing cancer care in Africa is driven by the simple fact that all have a right to health care that is available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality.
Achieving our Mission by
Effectively mobilizing and engaging stakeholders both in Africa and globally to prioritize cancer as a public health concern; educating local communities to increase their awareness of cancer, its incidence and mortality, prevention, treatment, research and support, and advocating for the right to the highest attainable standard of health care for those living with cancer in Africa.
Activities
Develop and implement public awareness activities; to provide and ensure access to inclusive information and support materials on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancers in easy to read, local languages and for individuals with special needs. Cancer Africa engages and collaborates with local cancer care and control institutions in these activities thereby fostering co-ordination and strengthening of linkages between the cancer care and advocacy entities.
Contextualizing locally available cancer care resources in Africa by providing freely accessible inventory of the current physician supply and infrastructure for cancer care and control within the region. This inventory is for the general public, governments, civil society, policy makers, donors, the private sector and all stakeholders. This database serves as a useful guide for policy and decision making by all stakeholders as it seeks to provide an accurate picture on the trends and dynamics of the regional cancer care and control framework.
The inventory also serves as a currency for accountability to be utilized by local communities to hold their governments and donors accountable for the use of resources within their communities, and to ensure cancer care development and funding efforts are producing the desired results.
This inventory will equally inform and enhance the clinical practice/research and career development issues facing cancer care human resource specialists fostering the development of more networks where this issues can be effectively and efficiently shared and addressed.
Expected Outcomes
- Robust advocacy & conversations on cancer in Africa
- Increase in care seeking and healthy behaviour
- Cancer awareness information that is appropriate and comprehensible
- Patient navigation and peer support programs for those living with cancer
- Stigma and discrimination reduction efforts based on stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to cancer patients and care takers
- Delivery of accessible, acceptable and quality cancer care
- Initiatives to catalyze private sector investment in cancer care infrastructure
- Improved human resource and infrastructure capacity for cancer treatment and research
- Increase in national budgets and effective policies for cancer care and control
- Reduced mortality rates from cancers that can be cured or prevented
“The rights of cancer patients can be achieved by implementing and adhering to what we call the Four Pillars of Oncology —Prevent all cancers that can be prevented; treat all cancers that can be treated; cure all cancers that can be cured; and provide palliation whenever palliation is required”
‘The State of Oncology’ by Professor Peter Boyle, President of the International Prevention Research Institute (Lyon, France) and Director of the Institute of Global Public Health of the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, United Kingdom and Lyon, France) http://www.esmo.org
Meet Our Team
Elizabeth Omondi
Elizabeth Omondi
Elizabeth is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization Cancer Africa. She was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and red cell aplasia in 2011. She has since embarked on raising awareness of cancer diseases in Africa through advocacy and contributing to the cancer control and care initiatives seeking to move health care for cancer patients in Africa from the frame of reference it has had over the past decades to one of renewed commitment and increased investment to improve Africa’s fledgling cancer care.
Jesse Imbuchi
Jesse Imbuchi
Jesse is a mechatronics engineer having extensive experience in control system development across aerospace, nuclear, power generation and rail transportation industries. He is currently a systems engineer at Honeywell Aerospace in Canada. Jesse holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya and a master’s in Electrical Engineering (Control Systems & Robotics) from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Catherine Ekar
Catherine Ekar
Catherine Ekar brings to the team a wealth of knowledge on global issues and an interest to work in solving them. Her passion is deeply rooted in the health care concerns of the African. She is banker with over 8 years experience in New York and now in Accra. She is an alumn of Ithaca College and enjoys cupcakes and long walks on the beach.
Janet Bolo
Janet Bolo
Janet has over 13 years’ experience in Financial Accounting, Risk Management and Internal Audit in both public and private sector organizations. She currently works as an Advisory Manager in Ernst & Young, UK and has previously worked with Deloitte in East Africa.
Jack Murphy
Jack Murphy
Charles Opondo
Charles Opondo
Charles is a Medical Statistician and Pharmacist. He is currently a Researcher in Statistics & Epidemiology at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford. He is developing structural equation models to explore the impact of fathers on the development of children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) study. He is also the Deputy Course Director for the Clinical Trials Masters Programme at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Charles research is also in the Health Services Research Group at the Kenya Medical Research Institute -Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a statistician in a variety of studies including cluster randomised trials testing interventions to improve quality of care for children admitted to Kenyan district hospitals. Linked to this he is designing and testing novel metrics for measuring quality of inpatient care for hospitalised children. His research & scholarly activities focus on health services quality improvement & patient safety. Charles earned a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the School of Pharmacy, University of Nairobi, Msc & PhD in Medical Statistics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London.Advisory Council
