By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho, GHANA
The cancer burden in developing countries is dominated by breast, prostate and cervical cancer.
The most significant challenge in this region is late presentation as people refuse to seek early treatment and rather prefer to use herbal treatment or consult pastors for healing.
These cancers, according to a Cancer Epidemiologist and Surgical Oncologist from the Rosewell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), Professor Chukumere Nwogu, are amenable through early detection.
Speaking on “Epidemiology of breast, cervical and prostate cancers,” at a workshop in Accra, Ghana Dr Nwogu underscored the fact that the most significant challenge in the region was late presentation, saying that these cancers could be treated if detected in their early stages.
The workshop was organised by the Rosewell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) of the United States of America (USA) and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) of the University of Ghana, in conjunction with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
It brought together doctors, researchers and pathologists from Ghana, Nigeria and the USA.
The workshop was aimed at identifying priority areas for collaborative research, training and enhancing prevention and therapy of breast, cervical and prostate cancers.
Globally, Prof. Nwogu said 14.1 million new cancer cases were recorded in 2012, with 8.2 million people dying from the three cancers.
He said 65 per cent of those cancer deaths occurred in low and middle-income countries.
Breast cancer he said was the most common cancer in women, affecting about 1.6 million women in 2012 world-wide.
He said it was also the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, killing 522,000 that year.
He mentioned some risk factors of breast cancer to include obesity, birth control pills, alcohol, hormone replacement therapy, age, family history, race menstrual history, radiation and genetic factors.
On cervical cancer, Professor Nwogu said 528,000 new cases were recorded worldwide in 2012, leading to 266,000 deaths.
Out of the number, 84 per cent of the new cases were from developing countries.
Among the risk factors to cervical cancer are early onset of sexual activity, multiple sexual partners, high-risk sexual partner and women who have history of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) among others.
With regard to prostate cancer, Prof. Nwogu said it was the second most common cancer in men worldwide, saying that an estimated 1.1 million cases and 307,000 deaths were recorded in 2012.
The risk factors for prostate cancer are age, ethnicity: most common in black men, genetics and family clustering.
According to the Head of Department of Surgery of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Ghana, Professor Joe Nat Clegg-Lamptey, the three cancers currently ranked among the five most fatal diseases which were affecting more people in the country, leading to their deaths in most cases.
However, Professor Clegg-Lamptey said, the magnitude of the problem was yet to be determined in Ghana because the country did not have a cancer registry to take record of all cancer-related diseases.
Currently, researchers in the country only rely on institutional registry from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) located in Accra and Kumasi respectively.
Prof. Clegg-Lamptey, who spoke on the topic, “Overview of breast cancer incidence and care in Ghana”, said the cancer situation was worsened by the fact that people refused to seek early treatment for especially breast cancer, and only reported when the disease was in its advanced stage.
He said although the three cancers had become emerging diseases national governments and researchers were not giving it the required attention to halt them from causing further harm.
According to him, after infectious diseases which were the number one killer diseases in developing countries, breast, cervical and prostate cancers were also gaining grounds as they were killing many people.
He reiterated the fact that early detection was key and called for more education to encourage people to report early for treatment.
Writer's email: rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh
This report was done in collaboration with Ouestaf News with the support of Osiwa
(C) Politico 01/07/15
