On receiving a diagnosis, people with cancer face many challenges. For some, cancer may already have affected both their physical and nutritional state, as well as their psychological well-being, before treatment is started. Individually and combined, such changes can decrease patients’ resilience to cancer and affect their response to surgery or systemic anti-cancer treatment.
To maximize health outcomes, patients need to be supported to address their nutritional needs, engage in supervised and structured exercise therapy, and access psychological support. Thanks to this prehabilitation project, a patient’s physical and psychological resilience and response to treatment can be improved in a way that fosters a sense of control and purpose and enables them to take steps to improve and maintain their long-term health. The project ensures that a patient builds resilience to treatment-related morbidity, and is nutritionally, physically, and psychologically fit for cancer treatment.
Wellness for Greatness Kenya in Collaboration with International Collaboration on Nutrition in relation to Cancer (ICONIC) is calling for a greater focus on prehabilitation, including nutrition, physical activity, and psychological support, in the delivery of cancer care.