Speech delivered by Zambia’s President, Michael Chilufya Sata, At The 6th Stop Cervical Cancer In Africa Conference On The Theme “A New Era In Cervical Cancer Prevention” In Lusaka

on behalf of the people of zambia and indeed on my own behalf, i have the pleasure to welcome you all to the 6th stop cervical cancer in africa conference whose theme is “a new era in cervical cancer prevention”. it is important to note that cancer is the world’s biggest killer and yet remains one of the groups or conditions which include preventable diseases. it accounts for approximately 250,000 deaths each year worldwide, over 95 percent which are in low and middle income countries. by 2030 cervical cancer is expected to kill 474,000 women per year. there is therefore need to prevent cancer at all cost, hence the need to take this conference seriously, as we aptly address this year’s theme. we in zambia, consider the hosting of this conference an honour. we hope that the experiences we will share will be of benefit to you. equally, we look forward to learning the progress made in other countries in the fight against cancer of the cervix. cancer in zambia, especially cervical cancer, is emerging as a major public health problem which can be attributed to rapid change in lifestyles and infectious agents like the human papilloma virus and hiv pandemic. although the focus of this conference is cervical cancer, i am equally concerned about cancers in men like prostate cancer. since there is an increase in cancers in men, efforts to address this scourge should also be heightened. ladies and gentlemen the holding of this conference is in line with the call for the african region to respond to this epidemic which is a serious challenge to the attainment of internationally agreed development goals. the government of the republic of zambia has a vision of making zambia attain the status of a higher middle income country as enshrined in the vision 2030 document. zambia is also on the race to meet the millennium development goals and indeed implement the recommendations of the world health assembly on non-communicable diseases including cancer. it is important to mention here that the first un high level meeting on non-communicable diseases and the signing of the political declaration supporting prevention and control of these devastating conditions was held last year. heads of state recognised the importance of having an international community and international cooperation assisting member states in the developing world to complement national efforts in generating an effective response to non-communicable diseases such as cancer of the cervix. good health is an essential prerequisite for national development. the government is committed to increase the budgetary allocation to the health sector from the current levels to at least 15 percent of the national budget in accordance with the abuja protocols and ensure actual releases. i am pleased to inform you that this year, we increased the funding to health by 45 percent. ladies and gentlemen our vision is “to provide the people of zambia with equity of access to cost effective, quality health care as close to the family as possible”. the vehicle to achieving this vision is primary health care. to achieve this, i am proud to say that one of the first things my government did when we came to power was to set up the ministry of community development maternal and child health. undoubtedly, this will facilitate more women accessing health services including screening for cancer of the cervix since this ministry interacts with mothers and children at community level. we believe women and children are cardinal to development. ladies and gentlemen infrastructure development is key in the dispensation of health services. my government is therefore constructing hospitals, health centres and health posts all over the country. currently, we are building 21 hospitals and 125 health centres. a further 650 health posts will be built. it’s worth mentioning at this point that we have embarked on the expansion of the cancer diseases hospital to strengthen provision of quality care for our people. as a matter of fact, government opened a centre of excellence for cancer control, screening, treatment and capacity building and we hope to take these services to lower facilities. the government is furthermore re-aligning the essential medicines like anti-cancer drugs, arv’s, anti-malarials, anti-biotics and commodities for emergency obstetric care. for transparency we have rationalized the procurement and supply chain for medicines and have developed a medical equipment policy to standardize procurement and maintenance of all hospital equipment in the country. ladies and gentlemen government is committed to promote functional and organizational reforms in the health sector in line with the overall strategy of increasing efficiency and improving standards in service delivery. we should eliminate corruption at all levels of health care so that we promote prudent use of resources to benefit those who are targeted and build confidence in our cooperating partners. the patriotic front government is determined to address and remedy the implementation of coordinated social and economic initiatives through the empowerment of zambians while recognizing the important role the donor community plays in complementing these initiatives. government is working with various cooperating partners, local and international, to fight cancer of the cervix. of note, is the support provided by president bush of the united states of america through the pink ribbon red ribbon initiative. in addition, pharmaceutical companies merck and gsk have contributed vaccines against the hpv virus to vaccinate 66,000 school going girls. we shall therefore promote access of cost effective vaccinations to prevent infections associated with cancers, as part of national immunization schedules. in conjunction with our partners we are also scaling up cost effective cancer screening programmes. this, as i mentioned earlier, is not a fight for the ministry of health alone! strong advocacy and commitment by all stakeholders is needed for cancer prevention and control. together we can do it! yes together we can defeat the scourge. distinguished ladies and gentlemen let me commend you for your attendance at this meeting. i am confident that with this level of commitment we will forge ahead to safeguard the lives of our health especially those of our women. defeating cancer will take all the commitment and ingenuity that we can summon; it is time to think creatively and to break paradigms. lastly, i will pay attention to all the activities and interventions that will follow this conference in zambia and will expect reports on the progress of all the interventions that will be undertaken following the knowledge and skill that will be acquired from this very important conference. my government and i will strive towards making zambia cervical cancer free. it is now my singular honour and pleasure to declare this meeting officially open. i thank you and god bless you.