ABOUT 20 million new cases of cancer will be discovered in the next 10 tears in Africa, if urgent steps are not taken the check its spread.
During the last edition of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, participants agreed after thorough deliberation that women from developing countries will be mostly affected by 2020.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cancer now kills more than HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis globally. In fact, it is said that cancer is more than an ordinary disease.
To combat the scourge of cancer in Africa, the continent should view the disease from a broader development perspective rather than a narrow health perspective. Cancer services in Africa are grossly inadequate while statistics are real frightening in relation to the frequency, late stage of presentation and the number of death attributed to cancer. Global incidence of cancer is increasing due to dramatic changes in life expectancy, combined with profound charges in lifestyle. The number of death attributed worldwide to cancer, is approximately at 12 per cent of the total number of death in the world.
African Union (AU) Chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who spoke at the conference, advised African leaders to find a lasting solution to the cancer scourge on the continent.
He described cancer as “more than an ordinary disease. It is one of the main causes of death worldwide. I am told that globally cancer causes more death than HIV, TB and Malaria combined.”
More than 70 per cent of cancer patients will live in developing countries which have only 5 per cent of the resources set aside for cancer control. Over the past 30 years, there have been steady gains overall in the quality of care available to those with cancer in developed countries but Africa has witnessed very little gain. At the moment, the cost of cancer care as practised in the established market economies far outstrips the resources of many African countries. The continent therefore has to look at ways to keep cost down and yet provide the best possible care.
Talking about cancer in Africa will not be complete without touching on its implication for development. It is now well known that health of population is linked closely to the socio-economic status of individuals.
No discussion on strategies to fight cancer in Africa would be complete without addressing two important issues - the health infrastructure which is very inadequate and the lack of human resources as a result of inadequate training and brain-drain.
Mrs Rahama Sani, a Nigerian-based in Kano and Mrs Gladys Boateng from Ghana who now runs a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Reach for Recovery Ghana, to create awareness on the disease, told our correspondent at the conference that they were shocked when doctors told them that they had cancer.
Mrs Boateng, mother of three, said she was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 1999. She said she had gone to the hospital for something else when the doctor examined her and found out that she had breast cancer. She said she didn’t notice it until the doctor gave her the information.
“I had gone to the hospital for something else and the doctor conducted some tests and after thorough examination of my breast he found something hard. I didn’t notice it until the doctor told me. It was like a mosquito bite and they discovered the place was a bit hard. The doctor asked me to see a surgeon and after seeing the surgeon, he confirmed that it was cancer,” Mrs Boateng said.
Asked how she felt when she was told that it was cancer, Mrs Boateng said, “I have heard about people who had cancer but I know that they don’t normally go to the hospital. They only stay at home. They don’t even like to talk about it and later on, you hear that they are dead. I thought the same thing was going to happen to me. So, I was scared because I felt it was a death sentence that has been passed on me. But after the test, I consulted a priest who told me and advised me not to go to the hospital that I will emaciate and I will die.
“Later on, I went to the hospital and also went to South Africa to live with a relation because at that time my family was not around. I had a surgery done in South Africa and after the surgery the doctor told me that after taking a nine-limp note, the cancer had gone to one. So, I thought it was good news that whatever it is, the cancer had been taking care of. But a patient close to me in the same hospital told me that it means it had gone into my system to appear anywhere in my body. So, I became scared at that point. But another survivor from South Africa came to visit me and I attended their meeting. At the meeting, I met other survivor who encouraged me. In Ghana, there was no survivor because people were afraid to come out and talk about it. At the meeting, I saw about 300 people who had cancer and I was encouraged.
“After the meeting, when they broke into smaller groups and others were sharing their experiences that after they have taken nine-limp note it has come to five and I began to ask them how many years they’ve been diagnosed with cancer and they began to tell me the number of years. Some will tell me seven years, some six, five, eight etc.
“After hearing their stories my eyes became open to the real fact about cancer that it does not kill and that if you go for early treatment you can still live. After the meeting, I had a change of heart and I became encouraged and I felt I could do the same in Ghana.
“Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I did not notice any symptom but I could remember I noticed a sharp pain in my breast but I didn’t take it seriously.”
She said the doctor told her that what she thought was a mosquito bite was a lump.
“When I broke the news to my family, they were all calm but they were scared. At a point they supported me to some extent. My husband and I were married for 33 years but at the moment we are separated,” she added.
Mrs Boateng told women who may be in a similar situation that “breast cancer is not a death sentence and certainly not the end of the world if you go early for treatment after it is detected. Some people get scared and worried after being diagnosed with cancer. Every woman likes the breast but they should not be worried because of the loss of their breast. There is a disease in it but if you don’t allow them to take it off, the cancer will travel to other parts of the body and that is what kills people. Having cancer is not the end of the world. There is life after breast cancer. You can still live”.
Rahama, who is also a cancer survivor, said she discovered she had cancer in August 2005.
She went to hospital and the doctor conducted a test and found out that she had breast cancer. She said she used to go for breast self-examination every month. She said when she went for the examination in August 2005 she discovered that there was a lump in her breast. After the examination, the doctor confirmed there was a lump and ordered some investigations.
Her words: “All investigations confirmed it was just a benign lump. So, there was no problem. Then I was planning to go for Umrah (the lesser hajj). I planned that if I travel to Saudi, I will have it removed and looked at it properly. Unfortunately, I could not make it because I could not get the visa. Later in October we decided to remove the lump and have it examined in Nigeria in October 2005. I got the result precisely on November 5, 2005, which confirmed there was invasive cancer. I was shocked. I was confused. I was almost fainting. I decided to call the surgeon. I said there was a mix up in my name. So, I said it could not be me.
“In 2004, I had shoulder pain radiating to the breast. I saw a doctor who thought it was arthritis and prescribed a drug for me and I got over it.
“I had to confide in my family, but I took the decision to have mastectomy alone because no one would support you to have one of your breasts removed, especially when it happened when you were thinking of having a child. I did not have a child in my first marriage and was just planning to remarry and have a child when this happened.
“They just said have you ever seen somebody who is living with one breast, or have you ever seen somebody who has a baby with one breast? I took the decision alone because I am well-informed that if I don’t take a decision early, it may be more traumatising. The person I wanted to marry was in the United Kingdom and he was very supportive all through.
“I did three investigations. I did mammogram, there was nothing, until the pathologist said they should remove it and examined it and he confirmed there was cancer. When I got the result, I was like this was not my own because there was a typographical error in my name.
“But when I went to see the pathologist, he confirmed it was mine. I said we should have a second opinion. This was done by this renowned pathologist in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Dr Rafindadi. I went to see him in Zaria and they did the test again and he confirmed the same result. I was so confused. But he counselled me,” she said.
Dr Sani Malami, cancer specialist and publicity secretary, Nigerian Cancer Society, described cancer as dangerous when it is not discovered early and treated appropriately. He disclosed that most cancers lead to death.
According to him, it is a fact that globally cancer is responsible for more death than malaria and HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined.
When asked about the myth associated with cancer, Malami said, “it has been known in our communities that we have all kinds of cancer. Unfortunately because this has not been addressed appropriately and because there are no facilities to debunk some of these myths, it has been especially difficult to get people to understand. This is also because many of these cancers are detected late and they lead to death and especially death among people in their productive age.
“So, there is no relationship between cancer and evil spirit, casting of spell or as some people suggest that it is adulterous women who contract cancer. There is no truth in it. Cancer is caused by a single cell, which has undergone a change in its biological composition, and it multiplies very rapidly and invades other areas and inevitably consumes the individual.”
According to consultant pathologist, Head, Department of Histopathology, National Hospital, Abuja, Dr Paul Jubrin, the facilities for the treatment of cancer in Nigeria are actually up-to-date, but the problem is that it is not well-distributed. Cancer radiotherapy, one of the latest treatments of cancer, is only in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Zaria.
“At least, you expect up to two of them in each geo-political zones of the country. If you come to the National Hospital, Abuja, the state-of-the-art equipment are there. We recently introduced nuclear medicine, which you can use to detect cancer in your body and apart from that we have oncology unit. It is just distribution. National Hospital has started training oncologists. The screening method for cervical cancer called pap smear is between N2,000 and N3,000. It is not available everywhere. Now, we have what we call vispal inspection with iodine. You don’t even need a specialist for this,” he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment