Aga Khan Health Services and France Collaborate to Fight Cancer in East Africa

Posted on : Monday , 10th February 2025

A new project has been signed with the goal of strengthening the battle against cancer in women in Tanzania and Kenya. Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) in Kenya and Tanzania is in charge of this joint project, which is supported by the Gates Foundation (GF) and the Aga Khan Foundation Tanzania, France via the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group. In the two countries, it will help almost 7.4 million people.

The East Africa Comprehensive Cancer Project, the second phase, will greatly expand the original project's scope by reaching six regions in Tanzania and Kenya, building on the success of the Tanzanian Comprehensive Cancer Project. By tackling the two most common malignancies that impact women in Tanzania and Kenya—breast and cervical cancer—it would include a strong gender focus.

The project will focus on strengthening community cancer care with preventive services, developing collaborative research with stakeholders and partner institutions, improving and expanding current oncology infrastructures and increasing staff capacity through training and retention programs in close collaboration with public authorities.  

Kenya and Tanzania will get capacity building assistance from Institut Curie, the leading oncology research and treatment facility in France. Additionally, to support this program, a French Technical Oncology Expert will be assigned by France to the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam for a period of two years.

About 7.4 million people will benefit from this project's cancer awareness initiatives and 400,000 women will receive breast and cervical cancer screenings. Additionally, the project will yearly target 600,000 girls in Kenya between the ages of 10 and 14 and 200,000 nine-year-old girls in Tanzania with an HPV vaccine program. Over the course of the campaign, 800,000 Tanzanian girls and 2.4 million Kenyan girls are expected to receive vaccinations.

Over a four-year period, the Aga Khan Foundation, Gates Foundation and AFD provide the majority of the €10.2 million project award.

Her Excellency Anne Sophie Avé, Ambassador of France to Tanzania; Mr. Rémy Rioux, CEO of AFD Group; Dr. Seif Shekalaghe, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Tanzania Céline Robert, Country Director of AFD Tanzania Mr. Amin Kurji, Country Representative, Aga Khan Development Network Dr. Zeenat Sulaiman Khan, Regional CEO, Aga Khan Health Service, East Africa and representatives from partner organizations were among the distinguished guests who attended the agreement signing event.

During the signing ceremony, Dr. Zeenat Sulaiman Khan, Regional CEO, Aga Khan Health Services, East Africa stated “East Africa Comprehensive Cancer Project (EA-CCP) is a unique and unified four-year project, to be implemented in six target regions in Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Dodoma, Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar and four counties in Kenya: Mombasa, Kisumu, Kilifi and Homabay via Aga Khan Health Services both in Kenya and Tanzania together with the Aga Khan Foundation in Tanzania and the Aga Khan University”.

She added that, “we have a long-standing partnership with France and their support has been invaluable over the years. This project will significantly advance cancer care in collaboration with the implementing partners, the Ministries of Health of both countries, as well as the Ministry of Health in Zanzibar, and other hospitals including Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Bugando Medical centre, Benjamin Mkapa Hospital, Mount Meru Regional Referral Hospital, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Amana Regional Referral Hospital, Nyamagana District Hospital and selected 100 health facilities from former Tanzania Comprehensive Cancer Project (TCCP).”