Returning Proton Therapy to South Africa

A team based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is well advanced with a project which will return a proton therapy centre to Cape Town, South Africa. The multidisciplinary project features an outstanding paediatric and adult oncology clinical team based at UCT and associated hospitals, spanning both public and private sectors, and strong expertise in accelerator-based research and development. The University of Cape Town is promoting the initiative as one of its flagship projects in its new Strategy 2030. Speaking at the launch event in January 2025, UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mosa Moshabela emphasised that the transformative potential of the initiative aligns with UCT’s commitment to scientific excellence and healthcare innovation. A proton therapy centre in Cape Town will not only provide world-class treatment for children with cancer but also contribute to ground-breaking research in radiation oncology. “It’s not a commitment we are making only to UCT or to the Western Cape; it’s also a commitment we are making to the country and to the continent,” Professor Moshabela said. Western Cape Minister of Health and Wellness Mireille Wenger formally launched the initiative, reaffirming the provincial government’s commitment to supporting innovative healthcare solutions. “This milestone shines as a beacon of hope, innovation and determination; and it’s also a beautiful reflection of the strides we are making in advancing patient-centred care right here in the Western Cape, in South Africa, and in the region,” she said. “Proton therapy is a ground-breaking advancement in the treatment of cancerous and some non-cancerous tumours. Globally, low- and medium-income countries, like South Africa, account for 90% of the world’s childhood cancer cases but we have less than 5% of the global resources for paediatric oncology.”

This project also has the full support from the National Research Foundation’s iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Sciences (iThemba LABS), previously the National Accelerator Centre. The facility was a leader in both proton and neutron therapy, with the first patient in 1993, and in total more than 520 patients were treatment with protons, mainly for head and neck conditions. New priorities in research and science development led to iThemba LABS closing its particle therapy programme in 2017, however the nexus of their experience and expertise and the compelling record at UCT of clinical and scientific research, lays a strong foundation to tackle a project of this magnitude.

The new facility will serve as both a national facility for South Africa and provide access to other countries in the sub-Saharan region. The city of Cape Town offers geographic and technical advantages for the siting of the new centre, which will be near the two hospitals attached to UCT: the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and Groote Schuur Hospital.

In South Africa, children aged 0-15 years make up 26% of the population of around 64 million and these figures are significantly higher in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is predicted that Africa will soon have the greatest number of new cancer cases in children per year in the world due to growing numbers of children coupled with declining socio-economic conditions in many regions.

The project plan also includes a secondary facility for a multi-particle 30 MeV cyclotron equipped with a range of radioisotope target systems to complement existing products from the iThemba LABS 70 MeV facility, and other PET-facilities in South Africa. Importantly, it will also be capable of producing radioisotopes such as astatine-211 with alpha-particle beams, for targeted alpha therapy applications, an area which is rapidly emerging in nuclear medicine. Beamlines for charged particles and neutrons will also be available for research, innovation and radiation metrology.

Cape Town hosted the XXX PTCOG meeting in 1999, and the XXXVII PTCOG meeting in 2002. We look forward to welcoming PTCOG back to Cape within a few years.

Andy Buffler, chair of the UCT Proton Therapy Initiative
andy.buffler@uct.ac.za
https://protontherapy.uct.ac.za