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{
    "id": 6805,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/6805/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 363,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I want to congratulate Dr. Monda for bringing this Bill which is timely. In supporting this Bill, I want to note that there are increased cases of cancer and, as a country, we need to do something to deal with it. Most of last week, I was in hospital visiting various people and, coincidentally, most of them had Cancer. One of them is a very good friend of mine who has championed breast health in this country, Mary. She was in hospital for most of last month. She is the one who brought to my attention the issues relating to cancer and the challenges that cancer patients deal with. At the same time, there was a young man who had just finished university, two years ago, who had also been diagnosed with cancer and also a father of a friend of mine. They were all in hospital last week. This is just to show how prevalent cancer is and that it affects persons of all ages. I want to agree with the hon. Members who have spoken before that one of the challenges is lack of awareness especially on issues of health. Cancer disproportionately affects women much more than it affects men especially cervical and breast cancer and yet many people do not know how to take early intervention measures. Many of us got to know the information I was getting very recently; that is three or four years ago. Most of that information is mainly given by Non-Governmental Organizations. It is strictly a responsibility of the Government to ensure that that information is availed to the public. One of the things that I know is a challenge in dealing with cancer is palliative care. I heard Dr. Monda talk and give the number of palliative care centres. I want to say that I was surprised that the number he gave seemed much higher than what I know or what is known in the public domain. I say this because I had occasion to take care of my uncle about two years ago, who had cancer. I had an opportunity to go through that process and I discovered that finding a place for somebody to go through palliative care in this country is a terribly difficult challenge because the centres are extremely few and many of them are not for the Government and are extremely expensive. I would like to thank the Member for noting that this is, indeed, important and making provision for this in the Bill. I would like to say that with proper care, cancer is not a death sentence. Cancer can be managed but the challenge is access to facilities and medicine. We all know that cancer treatment and care is extremely expensive and that is why I am happy that the hon. Member has made provision for an institute that will look into issues like this. One of the things I would like to speak about is on research. In Africa, we are sitting on a lot of information. I have said this before and I want to repeat it again that you will find that most medicinal plants are found in Africa but we do not invest in ample research. I have given before an example of the Rose perry Winko that has enhanced the chances of children surviving leukaemia. It was actually a plant that was found in Africa. Yet is it was the West who took this plant and actually developed the medicine that is enhancing children’s possibilities of survival from cancer. For us in Kenya, I know that we have an institute that has invested in research."
}