Ps Oluga Pushes Stronger Novartis Partnership To Boost Ncds, Cancer Care
img_tag = ("The Ministry of Health wants pharmaceutical giant Novartis to step up and help Kenya fight the diseases that are quietly killing thousands of our people every year – cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and sickle cell anemia.
Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni Muriuki made this urgent appeal during high-level talks with Novartis officials, demanding stronger partnerships to tackle non-communicable diseases that now affect one in four Kenyan adults. The meeting focused on expanding access to life-saving medications and improving palliative care services across the country's overstretched healthcare system.
Cancer cases alone have skyrocketed to over 47,000 new diagnoses annually in Kenya, with many families watching helplessly as treatment costs drain their savings faster than a leaking water tank. Diabetes and hypertension are becoming as common as malaria in our communities, yet most Kenyans cannot afford the daily medications needed to manage these conditions properly.
The reality hits hardest in our counties where a cancer patient might need to travel from Turkana to Nairobi for chemotherapy, spending their entire family's M-Pesa savings on transport and accommodation at Kenyatta National Hospital. Meanwhile, sickle cell patients – mostly children – suffer in silence because pain management drugs remain expensive and scarce in most public health facilities.
Novartis already supplies some cancer drugs to Kenya, but the Ministry wants expanded access to newer, more effective treatments that could save lives currently being lost to late-stage diagnoses. The government is particularly pushing for affordable pricing models and local manufacturing partnerships that could bring down costs for ordinary Kenyans who earn less than Sh20,000 monthly.
This partnership could transform how we handle diseases that have become the new silent epidemic in Kenya, potentially saving families from the devastating choice between selling their land or watching their loved ones suffer without proper medication.
Will this collaboration finally make cancer and diabetes treatment as accessible as treating malaria, or will it remain another promise that never reaches the ordinary mwananchi queuing at Pumwani Maternity or Mama Lucy hospitals?