编者按：由中国抗癌协会主办，天津医科大学肿瘤医院、天津市抗癌协会、中国整合医学发展战略研究院承办的“2023中国整合肿瘤学大会（2023 CCHIO）”将于2023年11月16—19日在天津举办。乌干达癌症研究院院长Nixon Niyonzima博士将在本次大会上带来题为“乌干达癌症诊疗和研究能力建设（Building capacity for cancer care and research in Uganda）”的演讲。《肿瘤瞭望》在大会前夕采访了Niyonzima博士。

 

2023 Chinese Congress of Holistic Integrative Oncology(2023 CCHIO)will be held in Tianjin from November 16 to 19，2023.Dr.Nixon Niyonzima，who is the director of Uganda Cancer Institute，will deliver a speech(Building Capacity for Cancer Care and Research in Uganda)at this congress.He was interviewed by Oncology Frontier on the eve of 2023 CCHIO.

 

Oncology Frontier:Could you please introduce the epidemic characteristics and diagnosis and treatment status of cancer in Uganda?

 

Nixon Niyonzima：乌干达每年平均有34000例新发癌症病例，最常见的癌症是宫颈癌、前列腺癌、乳腺癌、食道癌和卡波西肉瘤。大约10%的癌症患者是儿童（儿科肿瘤）。很大一部分癌症与感染有关（宫颈癌、卡波西肉瘤、肝癌、Burkitt淋巴瘤等）。大多数癌症患者表现为晚期疾病，即3期和4期（在乳腺癌中，约77%-80%表现为3期和4期疾病）。

 

目前，乌干达只有一个癌症治疗中心，即乌干达癌症研究所，这是一个致力于癌症诊疗、培训和研究的公共癌症诊疗中心。该研究所每年接收约25%的新发癌症病例，其中约26 000名患者的癌症诊疗需求未得到满足。癌症患者的存活率仍然很低，但正在提高。乌干达癌症研究所还在设立四个区域癌症中心，以改善获得癌症诊疗、培训和研究的机会。癌症诊疗的基础设施是有限的，但正在改善，而且需要进一步改善，以满足对癌症诊疗服务日益增长的需求。

 

Dr.Niyonzima:Uganda has an average of 34，000 new/incident cancer cases per year.The commonest cancers in the country are cervical cancer，prostate cancer，breast cancer，oesophageal cancer and Kaposi′s sarcoma.About 10%of the cancers seen are in children(paediatric cancers).A large proportion of the cancers are infection related(cervix，Kaposi sarcoma，liver，Burkitt Lymphoma etc).A large majority of the cancer patients present with advanced stage disease，stage 3 and 4(in breast cancer，between 777–80%)present with stage 3 and 4 disease).Currently，there is only once cancer care centre in Uganda，the Uganda Cancer Institute which is a public cancer care centre dedicated to cancer care，training and research.The Institute receives about 25%of all the incident cancer cases per year with an unmet need for cancer care of about 26，000 patients.Survival from cancer is still low but improving.The Uganda Cancer Institute is also setting up four regional cancer centres to improve access to cancer care，training and research.Infrastructure for cancer care is limited but improving and will need to improve even more to meet the increasing demand for cancer care services.

 

 

Oncology Frontier:What are your main interests in cancer diagnosis and treatment research?

 

Nixon Niyonzima：乌干达癌症研究所的研究兴趣广泛，包括癌症流行病学/登记、癌症转化研究、发育疗法、自然疗法、临床试验、基因组学和非洲癌症生物学等。

 

 

我参与了描述撒哈拉以南非洲癌症生物学的研究、低成本诊断方法的开发和卫生系统研究。目前我的大部分研究都集中在乳腺癌上。

 

Dr.Niyonzima:The Uganda Cancer Institute has diverse research interests including cancer epidemiology/registration，translational cancer research，developmental therapeutics，natural therapeutics，clinical trials，genomics and biology of cancers in Africa among many others.

 

I am involved in research to describe the biology of cancers in Sub-Saharan Africa，development of low-cost diagnostics and health systems research.Majority of my research is currently focused on breast cancer.

 

 

Oncology Frontier:How do you view the exchange and cooperation of cancer diagnosis and treatment and scientific research between the two countries in the context of the"Belt and Road"and"China-Africa cooperation"?

 

Nixon Niyonzima：“一带一路”和“中非合作”项目的主要目标包括加强非洲和中国之间的人民纽带，以及在非洲创造繁荣和健康。我们的合作有许多潜在的益处，包括非洲/乌干达和中国之间的培训交流。乌干达癌症研究所是一个专门的癌症中心，许多中国癌症中心也是如此，培训交流可以相互促进两国的肿瘤学实践。乌干达癌症研究所已经与云南省肿瘤医院建立了肿瘤global boards，这些丰富的经验可以进一步加强两国的合作交流。此外，通过“一带一路”倡议，中国支持了许多国家的基础设施建设，改善了癌症治疗的可及性。进一步的支持将大大提高癌症诊疗的可获得性。

 

中国在癌症治疗和研究方面取得了重大进展，非洲有机会向中国和中国癌症中心学习。虽然合作研究仍然有限，但有一个独特的机会来建立合作研究机会和方案，以满足两种人群的需求。非洲和中国有许多独特之处有待研究和利用。

 

我们很高兴成为合作伙伴，我们期待着发展合作伙伴关系与加深合作。

 

Dr.Niyonzima:Some of the major objectives of the“Belt and Road”and the“China-Africa cooperation”include strengthening the people-people bond between Africa and China as well as creating prosperity and health in Africa.There are many potential benefits of our cooperation including training exchanges between Africa/Uganda and China.The Uganda Cancer Institute is a dedicated cancer centre as are many Chinese cancer centres and training exchanges can mutually enhance practice of oncology in both countries.Already the Uganda Cancer Institute has global tumor boards with the Yunnan Cancer Hospital and these enriching experiences can be further strengthen.Additionally，through the Belt and Road Initiative，China has supported infrastructure development in many countries that have improved access to cancer care.Further support would significantly make cancer care more accessible.

 

China has progressed significantly in cancer care and research，and there is opportunity for Africa to learn from China and Chinese Cancer Centres.Although collaborative research is still limited，there is a unique opportunity to build collaborative research opportunities and programmes that will address needs of both populations.There is a lot of uniqueness in Africa and China that remains to be studied and utilised.

 

We are excited to partner，and we look forward to growing the partnerships and collaborations.