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Cancer survivors and caregivers are at the heart of Uganda’s cancer response. Their lived experiences provide knowledge, empathy, and credibility that cannot be learned from textbooks alone. Having personally navigated diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, or long-term cancer care, survivors understand the realities, fears, and challenges faced by patients and their families.
Across Uganda, survivors are already making remarkable contributions. They encourage individuals to seek medical attention when symptoms arise, support newly diagnosed patients through difficult treatment journeys, combat stigma and misinformation within communities, and promote adherence to treatment. For many people receiving a cancer diagnosis, another survivor is often the first person they turn to for reassurance, guidance, and hope. Because they have “walked the journey,” survivors are trusted voices whose experiences inspire confidence and encourage positive health-seeking behavior.
Despite their invaluable contribution, many survivors have never received formal training to strengthen their leadership, advocacy, communication, or peer support skills. While their intentions are always rooted in compassion, the absence of structured learning may limit their impact or unintentionally contribute to the spread of misinformation. At the same time, health systems around the world increasingly recognize that meaningful patient involvement leads to stronger, more responsive healthcare. Patients and survivors should not simply receive services, they should actively participate in shaping them. Their voices are essential in improving patient-centred care, influencing policy, strengthening service delivery, and ensuring that cancer programs reflect the realities of those most affected.
Recognizing this opportunity, Uganda Cancer Society (UCS), in partnership with Girls for Girls (G4G), developed the Leadership for Early detection, Advocacy and Peer Support (LEAP) Program. LEAP is a leadership and mentorship initiative that equips cancer survivors and caregivers with the courage, knowledge, skills, and confidence to become influential Leaders, advocates, peer supporters, educators, and Cancer Control Champions.
The program builds on the strengths survivors and caregivers already possess while providing evidence-based cancer information, practical leadership skills, and opportunities for mentorship and peer learning. Participants learn not only about cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and supportive care, but also how to build trust, communicate effectively, negotiate and advocate for self and others, provide ethical peer support, Lead with courage, and influence positive change within the health system.
LEAP embraces the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us.” The program recognizes that people living with and beyond cancer must be actively involved in decisions that affect their health, the design of services, and national cancer control efforts. By investing in survivors and caregivers as partners rather than beneficiaries, LEAP helps build a stronger, more patient-centred cancer response in Uganda
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