Perspectives Associated with an Increase in the Incidence of Colorectal Adenocarcinoma in Uganda

This paper is a current review of work done on colorectal adenocarcinoma in Uganda highlighting the perspectives in the increased rate of cases observed in our hospitals. A steady increase of CRC in other Sub-Saharan African countries is currently being documented however this is associated with a higher CRC-associated morbidity and mortality. Reasons behind this increase may be the nutrition transition in Sub-Saharan Africa characterized by decreased consumption of dietary fibre, starch and plant proteins to a Western diet associated with consumption of fatty foods and red meat. The emergence of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and obesity coupled with increased alcohol consumption and smoking confers a higher risk to CRC. A shift in the demographics is observed in Uganda compared to high income countries with 22.8% of our CRC cases being diagnosed at