A patient
prepares to
undergo a
mammogram
X-ray at the
Kenyatta
National
Hospital’s
radiology unit /FILE
Investing in mammograms will save a high number of women currently dying from breast cancer due to late diagnosis, a new study commissioned by the Ministry of Health suggests.
A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast that can help detect cancer and other breast diseases.
But Kenya has only 50 of them in public hospitals.
The ministry commissioned the study to find the best ways to increase early breast cancer screenings.
Less than two in every 10 eligible women are screened for breast cancer, but Kenya plans to increase that to at least three women by 2027.
This will require new equipment, more health workers and increased publicity. “Even the smallest increase in funding would yield significant economic returns,” the authors of the study emphasise.
They include Dr Mary Nyangasi, the technical lead for the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among Kenyan women, responsible for around 3,100 deaths annually.
The new analysis evaluated improvements to three approaches: early diagnosis only, screening led by clinical breast exams and mammogram-led screening.
Early diagnosis aims to get women with breast abnormalities to receive prompt breast cancer diagnosis in primary health clinics.
Screening entails testing women without clinical symptoms of breast pathology. Screening can be done with mammograms or clinical breast exams, where a health worker physically examines the breasts for lumps or other changes.
Each option was measured for its cost-effectiveness and the potential for reducing mortality.
“Our findings show that while all three interventions have value, mammogram-led screening is the most effective at saving lives,” the team said.
Mammograms would save an additional 34,000 lives over 40 years compared to the CBE method.
Their paper, “An economic evaluation of breast cancer interventions in Kenya,” was published in the Lancet on November 6.
Early detection alone, without comprehensive screening, saves the fewest lives and has the lowest net benefit among the three strategies. Screening with CBEs offers a higher benefit of $2.3 billion and could save 236,000 lives over the next 40 years.
The mammogram-led approach has a slightly lower benefit-cost ratio but is estimated to save the most lives—270,000 over four decades.
“While mammographic screening incurs higher initial costs, it maximises long-term health and economic returns,” the report reads.
It is considered the gold standard for breast cancer detection in developed nations.
The cost of a mammogram exam varies across hospitals and ranges from Sh2,000 to Sh8,000.
The Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital offers mammograms at Sh2,000 and breast MRIs at Sh23,000.
The Social Health Authority covers
most breast cancer screening costs.