"It's really expensive. When all this started, I had to sell everything I owned," says cancer patient Awa Florence. "I don't have anything left. I'm a widow and I don't have the means to pay for further tests."

The civil servant from Senegal's capital city, Dakar, was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year. Cancer is a growing problem in Africa and Senegal is the latest country to try to improve patient care by subsiding chemotherapy in all public hospitals. The government says the drugs will be free for women suffering from breast or cervical cancer and up to 60% cheaper for other types of cancers.

Some of the essential drugs needed to treat the side effects of chemotherapy will also be covered, Khady Mbaye Sylla, director of public hospitals, tells the BBC. But cancer often requires more complex treatment than just chemotherapy alone, and that costs more money, which patients have to pay for.

Read the entire story at BBC News. Ben Anderson, professor of Global Health, is quoted.