Morocco is preparing to launch the first county made test for the molecular diagnosis of breast cancer, one of the most common types of cancer in Morocco and a leading cause of death among women.
Executive board member of the Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research, Hassan Sefrioui said Morocco’s first tests to diagnose breast and leukemia will be commercially available within months, reducing costs and waiting times for patients in the country and across Africa.
Most diagnostic kits for cancer and other diseases in Africa are imported from outside the continent, usually from Europe and the United States.
Sefrioui explained, in a statement reported by The Guardian after a health conference held in Rwanda, that the development of cancer treatment kits has been underway since 2010, and leukemia tests have already been used in Morocco on 400 people.
He explained that previously all samples had to be sent to France for analysis, prolonging athe treatment period. “But with locally manufactured test kits, we can get results within hours,” he said.
The test has successfully completed all the necessary steps to obtain the registration certificate issued by the Moroccan Ministry of Health, according to data obtained by Hespress from the Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research.
Africa reliance on imported tests, treatments and vaccines has been a concern for health authorities on the continental level since the Covid-19 pandemic, with an estimated 70 percent of pharmaceutical products and up to 99 percent of vaccines used in African countries being imported.
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