Make fighting cancer a global health priority

This year’s commemoration of World Cancer Day on Feb. 4 adopted the theme “Not Beyond Us,” a phrase that hopes to take a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer while highlighting that solutions do exist, and that they are within our reach.

The campaign will explore how we can implement what we already know in the areas of prevention, early detection, treatment and care, and in turn, open up to the exciting prospect that we can impact the global cancer burden.

Cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that is characterized by the rapid formation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and even spread to other organs, causing the destruction of affected cells, tissues and organs.

14 million cases

While 14 million cases of cancer are being added every year, over eight million deaths worldwide are being attributed to it. The number of new cases is expected to rise by about 70 percent over the next two decades.

Here in the country, 189 of every 100,000 Filipinos are afflicted with cancer while four Filipinos die of some form of the disease every hour, or 103 cancer patients every day, according to a study conducted by the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Human Genetics, National Institute of Health.

The 2015 campaign of World Cancer Day organizers will focus around four key areas:

• Choosing healthy lives;

• Delivering early detection;

• Achieving treatment for all;

• Maximizing quality of life.

While “healthy living” is not a cast-iron guarantee against cancer, such decision stacks the odds in one’s favor by reducing the risk of developing the disease. For example, we know that it’s possible for a heavy smoker to enjoy a cancer-free life, while someone who never tried a cigarette could develop lung cancer. But numerous large, long-term studies clearly show that people who have never smoked are far less likely to develop or die from cancer than smokers.

Considering that our risk of cancer actually depends on a combination of our genes (check family history), our environment (like stressful work environment) and aspects of our lives—many of which we can control—it is also possible for us to fight cancer while it is still curable and not yet too costly.

Early detection

Screening increases the chances of detecting certain cancers early, when they are most likely to be curable. For example, if you are a woman and over 40, taking the annual mammogram and sonogram (along with follow-up tests and treatment if diagnosed) could reduce your chance of dying from breast cancer. Remember that breast cancer, like most types of cancer, is very treatable and survivable when found in its very early stages.

While there is PhilHealth’s Package Z, wherein the government provides P210,000 in financial aid to children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (a type of cancer that starts from white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow) or Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s financial package for families of cancer patients that approach the agency, Sen. Grace Poe has a pending Senate Bill No. 1283 (or An Act to Assist Indigent Cancer Patients and their Families) that seeks to allocate P1 billion in funds for the poor.

Under the bill, PhilHealth will administer the cancer-assistance fund, assisted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Interior and Local Government, in consultation with the private sector.

The fourth key area of this year’s World Cancer Day celebration stresses the importance of our understanding of and response to the serious impact of cancer on the emotional, mental and physical state of patients as well as their families and caregivers.

This is why it is important to incorporate palliative care on Day 1 of cancer treatment. For all parties concerned it is important to realize that people facing cancer also have complex lives and knowing what is important to them, who will care for them, what they value and what they hope for, may help everyone involved to respond to their needs and address quality-of-life concerns.

One best example is pain management. If pain has the patient in its grip, that person’s appetite diminishes. This means not being able to receive sufficient nutrition to retain energy which, in turn, leads to exhaustion and feelings of sadness and depression. As this cycle continues, that person is worn down gradually, may become more vulnerable to infection, and the ability to withstand necessary cancer treatments may diminish.