Cancer registration status in Sub-Saharan Africa

Long-standing high-quality registries in the region are located in Uganda (Kampala) and Zimbabwe (Harare). The Malawi (Blantyre) and the South African registries were accepted in IARC's Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Volume X. The registry in South Africa (the PROMEC registry) covers the rural population of 1.3 million in the former Transkei region of the Eastern Cape Province.

The countries where population-based cancer registries are developing and producing data include highly populated Nigeria in the North; Kenya, Ethiopia, and United Republic of Tanzania in the East; and The Gambia and Guinea in the West. Efforts are under way to start an expansion in Mozambique and South Africa.

There are a considerable number of registry developments under way within the 30 current AFCRN members across 19 countries, although there remain about 18 countries in the region where there are no data available or the status of registration is presently unknown.