News

Mathiwos Wondu-YeEthiopia Cancer Society (MWECS) celebrated the 20th anniversary of its establishment on April 17th, 2024. On this occasion, MWECS published a special edition of their magazine Fertuna. Mr Wondu Bekele lost his child, Mathiwos Wondu, to cancer and transformed a bitter grief into an opportunity. He founded MWECS to improve cancer care in Ethiopia (and beyond).

Hailu and co-authors recently published a cross-sectional study on 100 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) treated at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa from January 2020 to September 2022.

The study revealed non-conformance to international standard rectal cancer treatment recommendations. According to the authors, the major obstacle to adequate management of LARC in Ethiopia is the lack of adequate radiotherapy services. This is one more example for the need to expand radiotherapy facilities in Ethiopia.

In November 2024, Prof. Luca, President of the Foundation, visited the Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) in Addis Ababa and the University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Cancer Treatment Center in Hawassa. He also met with Dr. Selam Tesaye, clinical oncologist at Jimma University Medical Center (JUMC) in Jimma.

Prof. Luca met with Dr. Munir Awol, head of the radiotherapy department at TASH and discussed the opportunity to develop research together and offered collaboration opportunities with the foundation for the forthcoming Ethiopian Society for Hematology and Oncology (ESHO) meeting planned in March 2025. It has been a very nice and fruitful discussion.

Prof. Luca met with Dr. Netsanet Bogale, head of Hawassa Cancer Treatment Center. They decided to organize a 1-week training for medical physicists and radiation therapists at Hawassa in 2025, provided by personnel of Erasmus MC (details will follow). Dr. Selam from JUMC expressed the ambition to work with Prof. Luca and his team at Erasmus MC to develop research based on the patients that they have treated in the previous 3 years at JUMC.

Prof. Luca is confident collaboration with these centers will help improving cancer care in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is taking significant steps to combat cervical cancer, a disease that claims the lives of more than 5,000 people annually in the country. The vaccination campaign runs from November 9 to 13, 2024 and aims to immunize over 7.5 million girls aged 9 to 14 across schools, health facilities, and public gatherings throughout Ethiopia.

Tikur Ambessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) in Addis Ababa has recently succeeded in decommissioning the old cobalt-60 radiotherapy machine. This is the first step for the preparation of the bunker where a second linear accelerator (Linac) will be installed. The two Linacs at TASH will help decreasing the long waiting lists therefore improving cancer care of Ethiopian patients.

Congrats to the whole team at TASH for this achievement!

In August 2024, the Ethiopian Society of Haematology and Oncology (ESHO) and the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), to strengthen their common commitment for improving cancer control, and patient outcomes. This MOU expands AORTIC’s partnership and collaboration as an oncology workforce, enhancing support to country-specific cancer societies.

Dr Munir Awol (left), ESHO President and Dr Miriam Mutebi (right), AORTIC President in Addis Ababa.

The Foundation is glad for the support given to Dr. Ruth Shimeles to visit the Department of Radiotherapy of Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Dr. Ruth is assistant professor of clinical oncology at St. Paul’s Hospital Millenium Medical College in Addis Ababa. The hospital is in the process of completing the building of several radiotherapy bunkers and will hopefully start soon the installation of the first Linac.

Dr. Ruth has observed the clinical workflow, visited the palliation care unit, attended prostate and gynecology brachytherapy procedures, and visited the proton center at HollandPTC.

We are confident that Dr. Ruth will take advantage of the visit to start a research collaboration with the Department of Radiotherapy at Erasmus MC.

On May 8th, 2024 Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital treated the first cancer patient with radiotherapy. Hawassa is one of the 6 cities that will provide radiotherapy facilities to cancer patients in Ethiopia, and now the 4th (after Addis Ababa, Jimma, Harar) treating patients. Radiotherapy at Hawassa University will help reducing the waiting lists for cancer patients, therefore decreasing cancer death in Ethiopia.

The picture shows a very proud group of clinical oncologists, medical physicists and technicians who will take care of the radiotherapy treatment at Hawassa.

Congratulations to all!

The Government of Ethiopia is taking important steps to boost early detection of paediatric and adult cancers and expand patients’ access to radiotherapy. Five new radiotherapy centres are already under construction around the country (in Addis Ababa, Hawassa, Gondar, Mekele, and Harar). One of these centres, which is being developed through a public–private partnership, will be a comprehensive cancer centre integrated into the St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa....

Ruth Aytehgeza, Assistant Professor of Clinical Oncology at St Paul’s Hospital, Addis Ababa, has received the ACRO-American College of Radiation Oncology 2024 Best Award for her presentations at the Radiation Oncology Summit in Orlando, Florida, March 13-16, 2024. Dr Ruth presented on treatment pattern and survival for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and on patient awareness and hormonal status in breast cancer in Addis Ababa.

We congratulate Dr Ruth for her great achievement.

On February 24-25 2024, the Ethiopian Society of Hematology and Oncology (ESHO) held its 4th annual meeting in Addis Abeba. 100+ clinical oncologists from all over Ethiopia joined the meeting and took part in the lively discussions. 

Among other topics, presentations were given on cancer registries, pediatric cancer, innovative imaging techniques, and radiotherapy developments in Ethiopia. International speakers enriched the meeting with topics on clinical trials in Africa, sexual functioning and cervical cancer, and on the rising cancer burdens in Africa.

Dr Abiyu, from Jimma University Medical Center (JUMC), presented a poster at the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference, held in Dakar in November 2023. He shared his experience on the successful implementation of radiotherapy at JUMC.

The cancer center at JUMC launched in September 2021 has treated 2500+ patients coming from all over the country. The establishment of the new radiotherapy center has been challenging but also rewarding.

AORTIC is the definitive event on the African health calendar, enabling the exchange of ideas and the opportunity to learn from oncology leaders from all over Africa and around the world. 

For more information on AORTIC, please visit: https://aorticconference.org

Dr. Michael Shavel, clinical oncologist from Harar, has recently attended the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference, through a grant of the Foundation.

AORTIC has brought together 1000+ multidisciplinary specialists from the global cancer community to reduce the impact of cancer in Africa. The biennial AORTIC conference, held this year in Dakar, Senegal,  is the definitive event on the African health calendar, enabling the exchange of ideas and the opportunity to learn from oncology leaders from all over Africa and around the world. 

Thank you to everyone that donated to the foundation and making this attendance possible.

The Foundation is proud to support the visit of Michael Shawel Lemma, MD, to the Department of Radiotherapy of Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Dr. Michael is a clinical oncologist from Harar University Hospital, soon to offer radiotherapy services. He has followed, among other, the commissioning of an Ethos accelerator (Varian Medical System), observed the clinical workflow, visited the palliation care unit, and discussed the possibility of starting a research collaboration with Erasmus MC (Prof. Incrocci).

PhD thesis at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, on cobalt radiotherapy in Ethiopia

On January 12th 2023 Dr. Tara Rick defended her PhD thesis on "Patterns of Cobalt Radiotherapy in Ethiopia".

To read the thesis please click on the button below.

Testicular cancer is a rare malignancy, most prevalent in 15–40 years-old men. African data show low incidence rates but an advanced stage at presentation and high mortality rates. Burger and coauthors conducted a web-based survey and found the resources to effectively manage testicular cancer appear to be accessible to most institutions surveyed. The authors advocate sharing of clinical expertise within Africa to improve the outcomes in this rare but potentially curable condition.  

Urgent action is needed to curb a growing crisis in cancer incidence and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Without rapid interventions, data estimate a major increase in cancer mortality in sub-Saharan Africa to about 1 million deaths per year by 2030.

The Lancet Oncology Commission makes an extensive analysis of the growing crisis in cancer incidence and mortality, and recommends key actions. Implementation of these actions will be crucial for reducing the growing cancer crises and achieving political commitments.

In June 2022 “Approaching global oncology: The win-win model” was published as an e-book. More than hundred experts and scientists contributed to this extensive book. It explains the need for global approaches and campaigns to increase affordability of better value cancer treatment for millions of patients globally. 

The book is edited by Ahmed Elzawawy and Wilfred Ngwa and published by IOP Publishing Ltd. The table of contents and the first chapter are free available.

Recently Fekadu and colleagues published a retrospective study on patients with head and neck cancers who received cobalt radiotherapy at Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa. They found the majority presented with advanced disease, and stressed the need for additional investments to improve research capacity and to increase high-quality radiotherapy.

On February 25th 2022, Ethiopia has inaugurated a new cancer treatment center in the city of Harar, bringing the number of oncology facilities in the country to three, together with Tikur Ambessa in Addis Ababa and Jimma University Medical Center.

The new center was officially inaugurated by Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse together with deputy governor of the city administration Misra Abdela.

Ministry of Health Dr. Lia Tadesse inaugurated the oncology centre in Jimma on February 12th, 2022.

The Ethiopian government is acquiring new radiotherapy equipment and constructing new oncology centres through the whole country. This new facility will increase the national capacity to provide cancer diagnosis and treatment services to patients, and help improving cancer treatment outcome.

Jimma University Medical Center has treated the first patient on the linear accelerator on September 29, 2021.

A big accomplishment for the team at Jimma, congratulations to all!

Luca Incrocci has been interviewed on his Foundation at Erasmus MC, which is the hospital where he works. This is a shortened English version of the interview, originally published in Dutch (https://amazingerasmusmc.nl/actueel/geld-inzamelen-voor-training-radiotherapeuten-in-ethiopie).

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted cancer care globally. This study was designed to characterize COVID-19 response strategies on cancer care in Africa, including Ethiopia.

The Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) has recently announced the establishment of a regional cancer center of excellence located in Addis Ababa. This will be a world-class facility focused on cancer research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment for the people of the IGAD region and across Africa.

The main cancer treatment center in the country, the Tikur Ambessa Teaching Hospital, Black Lion, recently celebrated the first linear accelerator clinically operational in Ethiopia in the presence of Mrs Roman Tesfaye (former First Lady of Ethiopia) and Dr Lia Tadesse (Minister of Health). This is a big achievement thanks to Black Lion, the Varian and Elsmed teams for this great success story which comes as a model for the development of cancer care in Africa.  More installations coming soon in Ethiopia!

The pattern of palliative radiotherapy for bone metastasis favours fractionated regimens over a single fraction. Data proving the efficacy of single-fraction could shift practice and would reduce the number of palliative sessions which could increase capacity for curative treatments.    

ecancer has announced to only accept articles which feature at least one author from a Low and Middle-Income Country (LMIC), or which have a significant impact on under-resourced settings. This pioneering approach will allow to contribute towards addressing the current imbalance in global scientific publishing and combat the significant lack of data on which to base national cancer control plans in LMICs. The new submission criteria will come into effect from the 21st September 2020. 

If you have any questions regarding this development please get in touch via: editor@ecancer.org. 

Ethiopia is one of the nations in East Africa with the lowest rate of COVID-19 cases compared to its neighbors. Due to a state of emergency lasting now for five months all land borders have been shut as a virus control measure; the development of radiotherapy facilities in Ethiopia has unfortunately been delayed due to these restrictions. It is therefore important now more than ever to help Ethiopian cancer patients, so please DONATE!

On March 9th-12th, 2020 Luca Incrocci was present at a meeting organized by the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia in collaboration with the American Cancer Society in Addis Ababa to develop a national strategy to scale up radiotherapy services in Ethiopia. The meeting was very successful. Although there is still a lot to do to ensure that radiotherapy facilities in Ethiopia are soon implemented, the workshop has set the basis for collaboration among the Ethiopian centers and with foreign universities.

Prof. Luca Incrocci recently visited the Embassy of Ethiopia in The Netherlands. He met with H.E. Ambassador Million Samuel Gebre and discussed with him about the increasing number of cancer patients worldwide and also in Ethiopia, and informed him on the mission of the “Luca Incrocci Foundation” to improve cancer care in Ethiopia. H.E. Ambassador Million Samuel Gebre highly appreciated the noble cause and reaffirmed his commitment to collaborate.

Please read our paper on how the care of Ethiopians can rely on a single cobalt machine. Help us to improve cancer care in Ethiopia and please donate!

Our paper on “Patterns of Care of Cancers and Radiotherapy in Ethiopia” has been published online at the Journal of Global Oncology.

Enjoy reading and please donate!

Addis Ababa population-based pattern of cancer therapy, Ethiopia 

Feuchtner J, et al. PLoS ONE 14(9): e0219519.

On October 8th, 2018 the Faculty of Medical Sciences' Academic Commission of Jimma University has appointed Luca Incrocci to the rank of Honorary Full Professor.

Prof. Luca will play a great role in supporting the development of the University in the years to come.