MIRERC(R)093/2025: [CLEARANCE RENEWAL] Setting up an Esophageal Cancer Registry Using REDCAp Software at the Garissa Regional Cancer Center, Kenya

Abstract

Esophageal cancer (EC) is the ninth most common cancer and the sixth leading cause of cancer
deaths worldwide . More than 80% of cases and deaths from EC occur within developing
countries. The incidence of EC varies globally, with a higher incidence in areas such as Eastern
Asia, South Central Asia, South Africa and Eastern Africa. Notably, EC continues to receive
great attention due to its increasing incidence throughout the eastern Africa corridor,
extending from Ethiopia to South Africa, heralding increasing number of collaborative and
multicentre studies on the understanding the aetiologies of high EC incidences and the
formation of working groups and consortiums such as African Esophageal Cancer Consortium
and the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) African PrEvention research . This

collaborative research has mainly employed case-control studies to investigate risk factors for
ESCC such as hot beverages, oral hygiene and dental fluorosis, and alcohol.

In Kenya, cancer is the second leading cause of non-communicable disease deaths, and the
trend of cancer deaths is projected to increase as per the 2020 GLOBOCAN report showing
42,116 new cases annually with a mortality of 27,092 cases . The same GLOBOCAN data
shows prostate and esophagus to be the leading cancers in men in Kenya, while breast, cervix
and esophagus are the leading cancers in women, making EC the second most common cancer
in males and the third most common in women.