Abednego Obilo is a retired civil servant who runs a wholesale shop on the fringes of Siaya town. At 68 and still going about his business strong and healthy, he considered himself lucky until he started experiencing frequent urge to urinate.

At first, he dismissed it as a ‘passing cloud’ but later got concerned when the problem persisted. He contacted a doctor — a urologist he once met in Nairobi at a conference and arranged for an appointment.

The doctor recommended a test called prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. PSA is a protein produced by cells of the prostate (a small gland found in males that produces sperms). The PSA test measures the level of PSA in the blood.

In general, a PSA level less than 4ng/ml is considered normal while anything greater than 10ng/ml is considered high.

Before the test results came, the urologist explained to Obilo that there can be different reasons for an elevated PSA level, including prostate cancer, benign prostate enlargement, inflammation, infection, age, and even race.

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