Browsing by Author "Okongo, Francis"

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    Cancer incidence in Northern Uganda (2013–2016)
    (International Journal of Cancer, 2019) Okongo, Francis; Ogwang, David Martin; Liu, Biying; Maxwell Parkin, Donald
    The global burden of cancer is on the increase both in developed and developing countries. Nearly 14 million new cases of cancer and 8 million deaths were recorded in the year 2012 accounting for 1 in 6 deaths worldwide. Up to 70% of these deaths occur in developing countries.1 About 25% of these cancers in developing countries are caused by infections such as HPV, Hepatitis and HSV among others.2 Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the region hit by the cancer burden yet only 30 population based cancer registries representing about 19% coverage are currently providing quality cancer data for the entire continent to inform policy on cancer control programs in the various member states.3 In Uganda, estimates of the cancer profile have been entirely dependent on the findings from the Kampala cancer registry.1 To bridge this gap new registries have been established, one of which is the Gulu Cancer registry, located at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor in the Northern region of Uganda. This part of the country is predominantly rural, and differs with respect to climate, ethnic composition of the population, social and healthcare factors compared to the cosmopolitan population served by Kampala cancer registry. Gulu registry was established in 2014, and covers the population of four districts (Gulu, Omoro, Nwoya and Amuru), of the Acholi Sub-region of Uganda (Fig. 1), with a population at the national census (2014) of 771, 514.4 We report here on the results from the first 4 years of registration, 2013–2016.
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    Uganda experience—Using cost assessment of an established registry to project resources required to expand cancer registration
    (Cancer epidemiology, 2016) Wabinga, Henry; Subramanian, Sujha; Nambooze, Sarah; Mary Amulen, Phoebe; Edwards, Patrick; Joseph, Rachael; Ogwang, Martin; Okongo, Francis; Parkin, D. Maxwell; Tangka, Florence
    The objectives of this study are (1) to estimate the cost of operating the Kampala Cancer Registry (KCR) and (2) to use cost data from the KCR to project the resource needs and cost of expanding and sustaining cancer registration in Uganda, focusing on the recently established Gulu Cancer Registry (GCR) in rural Northern Uganda. Methods: We used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) International Registry Costing Tool (IntRegCosting Tool) to estimate the KCR’s activity-based cost for 2014. We grouped the registry activities into fixed cost, variable core cost, and variable other cost activities. After a comparison KCR and GCR characteristics, we used the cost of the KCR to project the likely ongoing costs for the new GCR. Results: The KCR incurred 42% of its expenditures in fixed cost activities, 40% for variable core cost activities, and the remaining 18% for variable other cost activities. The total cost per case registered was 28,201 Ugandan shillings (approximately US $10 in 2014) to collect and report cases using a combination of passive and active cancer data collection approaches. The GCR performs only active data collection, and covers a much larger area, but serves a smaller population compared to the KCR. Conclusion: After identifying many differences between KCR and GCR that could potentially affect the cost of registration, our best estimate is that the GCR, though newer and in a rural area, should require fewer resources than the KCR to sustain operations as a stand-alone entity. The optimal structure of the GCR needs to be determined in the future.