Project STRAWN: Strengthening Nigeria’s Radiotherapy Workforce for Better Cancer Care

Infrastructure alone does not deliver cancer care. Project STRAWN strengthens Nigeria’s radiotherapy workforce so investments in equipment translate into safe, effective treatment for patients.

What is the missing link between cancer infrastructure and care?

This is a question at the heart of our work at Health Invest Africa.

Across Nigeria, investment in cancer infrastructure is expanding much-needed treatment capacity. But infrastructure alone does not deliver care.

A radiotherapy machine is essential. Yet for that machine to translate into safe, effective treatment, patients also need skilled professionals, clear clinical pathways, quality-assurance systems, strong hospital processes, appropriate regulatory oversight, and the practical support required to begin and complete treatment.

For us, building healthcare capacity means investing in all of these elements together.

Infrastructure is only the beginning

Specialist healthcare depends on more than equipment.

A functioning cancer-care system requires the right technology, but it also depends on the people who operate it, the institutions that support them, and the systems that ensure care is delivered safely and consistently.

This is particularly important in radiotherapy, where treatment planning, quality assurance, radiation safety, equipment operation and multidisciplinary coordination require specialised expertise.

As Nigeria continues to strengthen its cancer-care infrastructure, developing the workforce behind that infrastructure must remain an equally important priority.

Building Nigeria’s radiotherapy workforce

This thinking underpins Project STRAWN: Strengthening Radiation Therapy Workforce in Nigeria, an initiative of Health Invest Africa’s oncology platform, OncoClinics, in partnership with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu (UNTH).

Project STRAWN was presented to the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Kunle Salako, who described the initiative as timely and relevant to Nigeria’s cancer-control priorities, particularly in the area of workforce development.

The programme is designed to help strengthen Nigeria’s radiotherapy workforce pipeline through a structured, supervised and competency-based pathway for developing professionals who support the delivery of radiotherapy services.

At its core is a simple principle: investment in cancer infrastructure must be matched by investment in the people who make that infrastructure work.

From healthcare investment to patient impact

For patients, the value of a radiotherapy facility is ultimately measured by whether they can access treatment that is safe, reliable and clinically appropriate.

That requires more than installing equipment.

It means developing professionals with the competencies required to use that equipment effectively. It means supporting quality and safety standards. It means strengthening the systems around treatment delivery and building pathways that help patients move through care with greater consistency.

Project STRAWN brings together public- and private-sector partners across Nigeria’s health system to contribute toward this goal.

By strengthening workforce capacity alongside infrastructure, the initiative aims to help ensure that investments in radiotherapy translate into something more meaningful: better access to quality cancer care and improved outcomes for patients.

Partnership is part of the infrastructure

No single organisation can address the workforce and infrastructure needs of cancer care alone.

Sustainable progress requires collaboration between government, teaching institutions, healthcare providers, technology partners, professional communities and the private sector.

Health Invest Africa is grateful to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Siemens Healthineers, and the technical and institutional partners contributing to Project STRAWN.

Their participation reflects a broader understanding that strengthening specialist healthcare requires shared responsibility and long-term collaboration.

Building beyond facilities

At Health Invest Africa, we believe that healthcare investment should ultimately be measured by what it makes possible for people.

The future of specialty healthcare in Africa will not be built by facilities alone.

It will be built by the infrastructure, systems, partnerships and people behind them, working together to ensure that patients can access the specialist care they need.

At Health Invest Africa, we invest in life.