Nuclear programme to have positive impact on medicine in Zambia

Staff at the Cancer Diseases Hospital in Lusaka prepare a radiotherapy machine for a patient.

In late July Lusaka became a centre of special training in nuclear medicine for future African leaders and young specialists. The IAEA representatives, who organised the training, highlighted that the goal of the training was to increase awareness and skills in the medical community of Zambia and other countries that participated in the seminar. This training provided a comprehensive foundation focusing on the safe use of radiation in nuclear medicine.

Participant from Zambia, Veronica Kangwa Sunkutu-Sichizya, the head of Radiology at the University Teaching Hospital, highlighted the importance of such kind of seminars for future specials, working with radiation safety.

Nuclear medicine plays quite an important role in increasing the wellbeing of people, as nuclear pharmaceuticals are able to provide accurate diagnostics and consequently accurate treatment of serious diseases.

The sphere of application of nuclear innovations in medicine is impressive. For instance nuclear medicine can be used to examine diverse conditions as blood flow to the brain, functioning of the liver, lungs, heart or kidneys, to assess bone growth, and to confirm results gained from other diagnostic procedures.

But the cancer and other serious diseases remain in the core focus of nuclear medicine. Unfortunately, cancer still poses an immediate threat to public health throughout the whole African continent. For instance, according to ICO Information Centre on HPV and Cancer Zambia has a population of more than 4 million women aged 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year nearly 2300 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 1380 die from the disease. Cervical cancer ranks as the 1st most frequent cancer among women in Zambia.

The Cancer Diseases Hospital at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka.

Zambia and other African countries can successfully tackle the issue by developing own nuclear scientific infrastructure, which will be make it possible to produce own medical isotopes and to train own highly qualified professionals. Number of emerging African countries have already made significant advance toward reaching this goal. For instance, Zambia and Nigeria are well on the way of creating ground to build nuclear scientific centers with the help of foreign partners, including Russia. These research centers furnished with modern research reactors will help local specialists to produce own isotopes, especially Molybdenum-99, for clinics to treat cancer.

African countries can also deploy special radionuclide diagnostic centers, both stationary and mobile, which can be implemented at medical institutions. For instance the deployment of nuclear medicine installations in Lusaka hospital helped Zambia to tackle more than 15 000 cancer cases each year with the help of own radiation center.

According to Kelvin Moonga, chief surgeon at the Central Hospital in Livingstone, with local diagnostic equipment and treatment facilities patients will be more motivated to seek treatment. With local treatment centers, Zambian patients won’t spend time and money on long journeys to capital and neighboring countries to receive necessary treatment.