The rate of cancer deaths in Kenya is double that of developed countries, the Ministry of Health said in early 2022.

This means a cancer patient in Kenya is twice likely to die from the disease, compared to a patient in Europe.

"While in other countries, particularly in the West, only 30 per cent of cancer patients die as a result of the disease, here in Kenya we lose up to 70 per cent, which is a worrying trend," former Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said.

Kagwe noted that the prevalence of sickle cell in Kisumu is between 3.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent compared to the national prevalence that stood at between one per cent and four per cent.