Dorothy Masasa is walking happily down a dirt road on a sunny afternoon, her baby strapped securely to her back.

Just six months ago the 39-year-old man, originally from Thyolo district in southern Malawi, was in Kenya for life-saving radiotherapy.

Malawi recently received its first such machines, so other women with cancer will no longer have to travel abroad for treatment.

“When doctors discovered I had cervical cancer at 13 weeks of pregnancy, I was registered as an emergency case. They told me those two things don’t go together,” the mother of three tells the BBC.

She says doctors in Malawi told her she could have an operation to remove the cancer, but this would end the pregnancy, or she could be given chemotherapy, but this would put the baby at risk of being born with a disability.

She opted for chemotherapy until the baby was born via cesarean section – without any disability.

In the same operation her uterus was removed.

Before diagnosis, Ms Masasa experienced lower abdominal cramps, bleeding and foul-smelling vaginal discharge that would not go away. At first doctors thought it was a sexually transmitted infection.

But despite chemotherapy and operations, she still needed further treatment to cure the cancer – treatment that was not available in Malawi until earlier this year.

She joined a group of 30 women who were taken to a Nairobi hospital in Kenya by aid agency Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to undergo radiotherapy to kill cancer cells.

This was the first time she had traveled by plane so she was quite anxious and reluctant to leave her newborn baby behind.

“But because I was going there for treatment, I encouraged myself that I should really go and get treatment and I would come back home healthy and happy.”

When the BBC met her in hospital, Ms Masasa was still weak from the effects of the treatment, having lost both her weight and her hair.

She is one of 77 patients who were flown from Malawi to Kenya for cervical cancer treatment from 2022.

Sixty years after gaining independence from the UK, Malawi installed its first radiotherapy machine at the privately owned International Blantyre Cancer Center in March this year, marking a major step forward in the country’s healthcare system.

More machines arrived in June and will be placed at the National Cancer Center under construction in the capital Lilongwe.

Although Malawi still has a long way to go in providing comprehensive cancer treatment, it is ahead of many other countries in the region.

in sub-Saharan Africa more than 20 countries There is no access to radiotherapy, which is vital to fighting cancer.

This means that patients are forced to undertake expensive and tiring journeys for treatment.

have cervical cancer Fourth most common cancer in women worldwideAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths were recorded in 2022.

According to the World Health Organization, all but one of the 20 countries with the highest rates of cervical cancer in 2018 were in Africa.

This is due to the lack of access to preventive human papillomavirus vaccines (HPV), adequate screening and treatment, meaning many women are treated late.

Malawi’s oldest and largest government-owned treatment centre, the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), receives a large number of cervical cancer patients from across the country.

Dr. Samuel Meza, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the hospital, says cervical cancer is a major problem for most countries in the region.

“Poor access to screening and the HIV crisis that is ravaging much of sub-Saharan Africa have worsened the situation,” he says.

In 2018, Malawi was second only to Eswatini in Southern AfricaWhere the rate of cervical cancer was the highest in the world.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s outgoing regional director for Africa, says that globally, one woman dies of cervical cancer every two minutes. 23% of deaths occur in Africa.

To reverse these dire statistics, large-scale campaigns have been launched in Africa to vaccinate girls against HPV, which causes cervical cancer.

Lesotho has reached An extraordinary 93% coverage after vaccinating 139,000 girls against HPV.

But the stigma of cervical cancer in various African countries has affected the number of people getting vaccinated.

For example, in Zambia it is frowned upon to talk about anything gynecological.

In Malawi, Dr. Meza says cervical cancer screening has been launched.

“It’s a very simple strategy that identifies women at risk and treats them before you become a cancer patient. This investment is what we need to make as a nation before it gets out of hand,” he says.

As for Ms Masasa, she is now back home in Malawi.

The treatment he received in Kenya has given him a new life. Her hair has grown back, she can carry her baby on her back, take care of her cow and work in the fields.

She says she now knows that cervical cancer can be treated and the vaccine can help other women avoid the disease, so she has no doubts about vaccinating her daughter.

She says, “Cervical cancer made me go through a difficult phase and I would not want my daughter to go through the same phase.”

“There is a huge difference between how I was then and how I am now. I am very glad that I have recovered.”

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