By Beatrice Lugalambi
Cancer remains one of Uganda’s most pressing health challenges, straining families and the health system. Uganda records roughly 29,000 new cancer cases and 18,000 cancer deaths a year, with about 59,000 patients in active care at any time. Yet a quieter story runs alongside it: cancer care is increasingly shaped not by any single actor, but by government, healthcare providers, the private sector, development partners and citizens pulling in the same direction.
For years, the national cancer conversation centred on awareness, helping people recognise symptoms and seek care early. That remains vital, but it is no longer sufficient. The harder questions now are about access. Can a patient get screened? Is diagnosis affordable? Is treatment available within a reasonable distance and time? Does the nearest facility have the equipment and specialists to deliver it?
No single institution can answer all of that alone. Government sets policy and health priorities. Hospitals and clinicians provide expertise and treatment. Development partners bring technical knowledge and financing. Communities carry out prevention, early detection and patient support. The private sector, meanwhile, brings capital, networks and reach that can be mobilised quickly when directed at a shared goal.
Infrastructure is where this collaboration shows most clearly. Cancer treatment requires specialised, capital-intensive investment, diagnostic equipment, radiotherapy machines and trained oncology staff. Pooled resources applied consistently over years rather than in one-off donations are what turn pledges into functioning wards and working machines.
This is the logic behind initiatives such as the Rotary Cancer Run, now in its fifteenth year. By drawing in Corporates, Rotarians, health institutions and thousands of individual Ugandans, it has shown that modest individual contributions, multiplied at scale, can fund infrastructure that outlasts any single campaign.
Businesses are often understood narrowly as financial backers of such causes. But their real value lies in what they already have. Branch networks, staff and customer relationships that reach deep into communities, when used well, can carry health messaging, support screening drives and sustain fundraising long after a launch event’s attention fades.
Prevention still deserves equal weight. Late presentation remains one of the biggest obstacles to survival in Uganda. Shifting that requires engagement that runs all year, not a single annual campaign.
Centenary Bank’s involvement illustrates how sustained corporate participation can look in practice. The bank has backed the Rotary Cancer Run for fifteen years, contributing more than Shs3 billion cumulatively, including a Shs500 million commitment to this year’s edition. That support has gone toward the Rotary-Centenary Bank Cancer Centre at Nsambya Hospital and radiotherapy bunkers built to house LINAC machines, alongside more than 300 community health camps held nationwide for screening and early detection. It reflects a broader pattern, institutions treating cancer response as a long-term commitment rather than a seasonal gesture.
Ultimately, Uganda’s cancer response will not be defined by any one fundraiser, hospital wing or corporate cheque. It will be defined by whether these separate efforts are sustained and connected, whether government, clinicians, businesses and citizens keep reinforcing one another after the spotlight moves on.
The gains recorded so far are not the destination. They are evidence of what collective effort can build when a health challenge is treated as a responsibility shared by all, and a reminder that a cancer diagnosis should not have to mean a sentence of limited options.
The writer is the General Manager, Corporate Communications and Marketing Centenary Bank. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
