Battling alone: Cancer patients face isolation and stigma in rural areas

Patients in need of palliative care often face stigma. 

Beatrice Kipsoi, a patient living with cancer, is at her home in Sitatunga village, Trans Nzoia County, savoring a cup of tea. 

She can afford a smile despite what she faces on a daily basis.

Beatrice is among patients seeking palliative care to ease her suffering as she battles cancer. However, she says that though she made peace with it, the stigma she faces at times overwhelms her.

"Just like Beatrice, many patients living with cancer feel abandoned. In Lesos, on the outskirts of Kitale town, we find Rose Suluhu, a cancer warrior battling breast cancer. 

She tells us that she requires one chemotherapy session weekly and 25 sessions of radiotherapy. 

Rose says she has to bear the pain of the treatment alone as the number of caregivers drastically dropped.

"This cancer is not a small thing. We used to have the support of the community, but during this journey, people will only look for you until they tire. Now, we are left to fend for ourselves, and even my own brother got tired," Rose shares.

With the enactment of the new health laws, patients hope that proper policies are implemented to provide special care to those living with chronic diseases.

"It reaches a point where I collapse. I just feel blood gushing down, and everyone rushes away, leaving me alone. This house, this cold, it just goes silent, and my husband has no money at all," Beatrice Kipsoi expresses.

"We go deep down into the villages to assist them. Most of them have done all the treatment; they are just managing pain, as are the people we attend to," Lilian Natembeya, spouse to Governor Natembeya, says.

"We usually provide advice, especially to those who do not understand what to do. We conduct examinations and provide guidance," Esther Jarenga, an expert, explains.