Afrique en ligne - Ethiopia recorded significant progress in supporting and providing care to people suffering from cancer, by improving screening in the country's health structures, a French specialist, Dr. Joseph Sheba, disclosed here.

"Since 2006, Ethiopia started a national programme of fight against the cancer which gives promising results," said Sheba, chairman and managing director of Axios, a consultancy company specialised in assistance to developing countries.

According to the French specialist, Ethiopia benefitted from its national plan to reinforce the screening capacities in Addis-Ababa and in the inland localities of the country while developping an educational programme for the women.

"The country had especially achieved important progress in breast cancer screening. We also helped Ethiopia to set up therapeutic protocols which profitted to several hundreds of patients," he stated, stressing the existence of a strong political will in the country.

Ethiopia, like other African states, suffers from shortage of staff specialized in providing care to people suffering from cancer, according to a report made public at the time of the world day of fight against cancer.

"The number of oncologist [specialist in cancer] in Ethiopia shifted one in 2006 to two today. It goes without saying that the country needs much more oncologists. We will continue to work with Ethiopia to consolidate the results already obtained. But right now, one notes a clear improvement of the fate of the women," said Sheba.