World Cancer Day 2015 "Not Beyond Us"

February 4th 2015,  was set aside to mark the 2015 World Cancer Day, with a theme - "Not Beyond Us"

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and accounted for 7.6 million deaths (around 15% of all deaths) in 2008. 66% of all cancer deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Deaths from
cancer worldwide are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 13.1 million deaths in 2030.

The World Cancer Declaration Targets to be achieved by 2025:

Target 1 - Health systems will be strengthened to ensure sustained delivery of effective and comprehensive, patient-centred cancer control programmes across the life-course
Target 3 - Global tobacco consumption, overweight
and obesity, unhealthy diet, alcohol intake, and levels of physical inactivity, as well as exposure to other known risk factors will have fallen significantly
Target 4 - The cancer causing infections human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) will be covered by universal vaccination programmes.

Meeting this challenge is not beyond us if we work together to:

·       Empower individuals with the right to health

·       Promote an enabling environment for healthy living in our communities, and

·       Urge governments to invest in health systems that support healthy lives

It is Not Beyond Us to meet the challenge if...

·       Governments realise that investing in prevention of cancer is cheaper than dealing with the consequences.

·       Children and adolescents are included in policies and strategies that promote healthy behaviors.

·     

        HBV and HPV vaccines are offered as part of national immunisation schedules to prevent infection and to reduce the human and financial toll of liver and cervical cancers in countries with high rates of incidence.

·      

     All schools and workplaces take measures that make healthy choices the default choice.

·       Technical support and best practice resources are available to assist all countries to implement global NCD commitments as part of a national cancer control plan.

·       Individuals, families, health professionals, policy makers and politicians are aware that with the right strategies, around a third of cancers can be prevented through diet, physical activity and being a healthy weight.

The Disease:

The main types of cancer are: Lung (1.4 million deaths/year), Stomach (737,000 deaths), Liver (695,000 deaths), Colorectum  (609,000 deaths), Breast (458,000 deaths)

The Socioeconomic Impact:

A joint report by the American Cancer Society and Livestrong identified the total economic burden of premature death and disability due to cancer to be 895 billion USD in 2008. This was 1.5% of the world’s GDP in 2008 and did not include the direct costs of medical treatments for cancer.

Prevention and risk factors:

More than 30 % of cancers are preventable through modification of behavior and lifestyles. In addition to the risk factors of unhealthy diet, tobacco use, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol, reduction in exposure to cancer-related infections such as HPV (cervical cancer), HBV (liver cancer) and helicobacter pylori (stomach cancer), as well as environmental and occupational exposure to carcinogens are the focus areas of cancer prevention.

Early Detection:

Many of the most common high-impact cancers – breast, cervical, oral and colorectal cancers – lend themselves to affordable and accessible early detection through screening, with high potential for recovery if diagnosed at an early stage and appropriate treatment is provided.

Treatment:

Treatment involves a series of interventions, including psychosocial support, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy aimed at curing the disease or prolonging life considerably while improving the patients’ quality of life.

Palliative Care:

Palliative care, including access to pain relief is an urgent humanitarian need worldwide for children and adults with advanced cancers. Current estimates suggest that at least 2.9 million cancer and HIV/AIDs patients suffer the terminal phase of their disease with no pain relief.

Reference:

Healthy Life Choices - http://www.worldcancerday.org/sites/wcd/files/atoms/files/WCD2015_FactSheet_1_HealthyLifeChoices_EN_Screen.pdf

The NCD Alliance Cancer Quick Facts - http://www.ncdalliance.org/node/40