Cancer incidence in Northern Uganda (2013–2016)

Gulu Cancer Registry was established in 2014 to assess the incidence and survival of cancer in 4 districts of the Acholi Sub-region of northern Uganda. Here we report the results of the first 4 years of registration (2013-2016) in this largely rural population of 771,514. In total there were 1627 cases of cancers registered; 644 among men (corresponding to an ASR of 106.7 per 100,000 population) and 983 cancer cases among women (ASR 118.5 per 100,000). The most common cancers were cancers of the cervix and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in females, and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Kaposi Sarcoma, prostate and liver cancers in men. Incidence rates of Burkitt lymphoma in children were high in comparison to elsewhere in Africa, whilst the incidence of breast cancer in women was rather low. The figures suggest a rather different pattern from that observed in the metropolitan population of Kampala, where there has been a cancer registry since 1951. This helps to provide a more complete picture of the national cancer profile, permitting more targeted interventions in prevention, early detection and treatment services.