By Sandra Birungi

Uganda is today celebrating World Cancer Day under the theme, ‘Cancer, Did you Know’.

The day will be marked in Sheema district with several activities scheduled to take place. Among them are cancer immunization in 14 districts, beginning with Sheema district and cancer screening, among others.

There is a motion which is currently in the pipeline set to make breast and cervical cancer screenings compulsory for all women who go to receive antenatal care in hospitals. This will help reduce the number of cases of women with breast and cervical cancer in the country.

According to statistics, breast and cervical cancer are the most common types of cancer in the country. At the moment, cancer statistics in the country are lacking. Statistics also show that the risk of dying from cancer by age 65 in Uganda is higher than in developed countries and the survival with cancer after diagnosis <13% for all cancer sites, except breast, for which it is 46%.

World Cancer Day was marked Monday 4th.