Uhuru announces plan to step up cancer fight efforts

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday assured that the government will step up interventions aimed at containing the growing cases of cancer related deaths in the country.

Speaking when he chaired a Cabinet meeting at State House Nairobi, President Kenyatta said the government, working with partners, is putting in place measures including policy interventions that will help ease the burden of the cancer disease on Kenyans.

“We need to see what more we can do to assist both in prevention but also in treatment of the disease. And we need to do that as a Government together with the county governments,” President Kenyatta said.

“This is an issue that we need to take more seriously and galvanize all of us to come up with a solution both in preventive –which is most important – but also in helping fellow Kenyans to get treatment, and get it early for those already affected by the disease,” the Head of State added.

The President who led the cabinet in a moment of silence in honour of the late Bomet Governor Dr Joyce Laboso and the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth, both of whom succumbed to cancer recently, acknowledged that cancer is fast becoming a crisis that needs urgent action.