22,000 people died of cancer in Uganda in 2018

At least 22,000 Ugandans died of cancer in 2018, Uganda Cancer Institute report says.

32,617 new cases of cancer were recorded last year.

The institute's director said the high number of deaths was majorly due to late diagnosis.

Records show that many patients were diagnosed with cancer of the cervix, breast cancer, and kaposis sarcoma, cancer of the stomach, lymphoma, Leukaemia and liver cancer

Late diagnosis

Dr Jackson Orem, the director of Uganda Cancer Institute told Uganda Radio Network 30% of all cancer cases are curable if detected early.

"Most common causes of cancers are in infections that most times go untreated... it is estimated that 80% of all cancer patients die due to late diagnosis."

The government is now promoting early diagnosis of cancer through training health workers.

In 2017, Uganda acquired a new radiotherapy machine from the Czech Republic at 800,000 dollars.