Fight against cancer: In Vienna, Senegal launches its response with 5 new centers and 23 trained professionals

Senegal wants to scale up its fight against cancer. In Vienna, where he participated in the work dedicated to the theme "Honoring the promise of cancer care", the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Dr Ibrahima Sy, presented the main levers on which the country intends to rely to improve patient care.

At the heart of this strategy: skills. Through a partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 23 Senegalese healthcare professionals received specialized training in radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, radiopharmacy, and medical physics. This skills development is intended to support the strengthening of the national cancer control system.

But Senegal is also investing in equipment. The commissioning of the SPECT-CT scanner at the Idrissa Pouye General Hospital is among the anticipated advancements, while the roadmap for installing a cyclotron continues. In addition, there is a major project: the creation of five new radiotherapy centers, complementing the strengthening of existing infrastructure.

The goal is to bring healthcare closer to the population, while also ensuring its continuity through increased human resources, improved equipment maintenance, and the implementation of sustainable financing mechanisms. This strategy is part of the National Cancer Control Plan 2025-2029.

In Vienna, the Minister of Health reaffirmed Senegal's commitment to using these investments as concrete means to improve access to care, strengthen patient support and help reduce cancer-related mortality.

This initiative, however, comes at a time of significant shortages of cancer specialists. Senegal faces nearly 11,800 new cancer cases each year, while the country currently has only about 57 cancer specialists across all disciplines. The shortage is particularly acute among medical oncologists, with only 6 practitioners, 2 of whom are in training, in addition to approximately 18 radiation oncologists and about ten surgical oncologists. The lack also affects support staff, with only 12 chemotherapy nurses, 6 medical physicists, and 2 radiotherapy maintenance engineers.

The National Cancer Control Plan 2025-2029 aims to increase the number of specialists to 218 by 2029.

The challenge now will be to align infrastructure investments with the scaling up of human resources, so that the announced new capacities actually translate into faster access to care for Senegalese patients.