Applied Geoinformatics for Society and Environment (AGSE), Applied Geoinformatics for Society and Environment 2011

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UNDERSTANDING THE SPATIAL PREVALENCE OF CERVICAL CANCER USING GIS IN NAIROBI, KENYA

Faith Njoki Karanja

Last modified: 2011-06-23

Abstract


Cancer is characterized by excessive, uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that invade and destroy other tissues. It can develop in almost any organ or tissue of the body, however certain types of cancer are more life threatening than others. In Kenya, cancer ranks third as a killer disease, with an estimated 18,000 deaths reported annually and 82,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Indeed it has been established that the chance of dying of cancer today is higher compared to HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria 20 years ago. Cancer rates vary by gender, race, age and geographic region. For instance more men than women develop cancer whereas breast cancer is more common in wealthy countries compared to cervical cancer which is more prevalent in poor countries. Further, some types of cancers are more common in people over the age of 50. The spatial distribution of cancer mortality varies non-uniformly in Kenya. This study focuses on cancer of the cervix. This type of cancer has been found to be one of the most common causes of death among women in developing countries unlike in the developed ones. This has been attributed to several factors among them poverty, lack of appropriate resource distribution and screening programs.  Previous studies have concentrated on statistical techniques to establish the correlation between cancer prevalence and the risk factors. However, in order to enable appropriate mitigations there is need to localize and quantify the prevalence. In this regard, this study explored the use of GIS in highlighting the spatial prevalence of cervical cancer based on available four epochs of datasets namely 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. Specifically, the spatial trends, influence of age and poverty levels on the prevalence have been demonstrated. The results emanating from this study are useful in appreciating the magnitude and location of the problem thereby facilitating mitigation measures in terms of where to allocate and optimize proper screening programs for prevention.


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