From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…
In the 1980s, I
traveled with an organization to West Africa. I spent three months in Cameroon,
so I still follow news about the country. Recently it seemed a natural
extension of my reading about Breast Cancer to check the stats regarding the
disease in that country.(Essay on BC:Nigeria is here -- http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2016/11/guys-gotta-talk-about-30breast-cancer.html)
I found this: “Overall
survival rates of breast cancer are 30% at 5 years and 13.2% at 10 years among
Cameroonian patients and are lower compared with 90% and 82% respectively at 5
years and 10 years in some developed countries.”
OMG! This is truly
horrifying. Where we – justifiably – celebrate the survival of American breast
cancer victims, the mortality rate of the women in Cameroon is THREE TIMES
ours.
What’s being done?
How can we help?
The vast majority
of deaths from malignancies occur in sub-Saharan Africa primarily as a result
of lack of public awareness of cancer
and how it is diagnosed and treated in the setting of a severe lack of
resources (physical and personnel) to actually diagnose tumors. To correct this
massive health disparity, a plan of action is required across the continent of
Africa to bring diagnostic medicine into the modern era and connect patients
with the care they desperately need.” (Emphasis
mine)
Why should this
matter to you? Why should the matter to me?
I COULD wallow in
guilt. That would be both easy and satisfying! Instead, I’ve decided I’m going
to take a character I’ve created in a science fiction short story, and send him
on a few adventures. Most likely, he’ll be travelling with a hard-thinking
woman who will become his perfect match. They’ve already started out rebuilding
the educational infrastructure of Liberia in the future middle of this century.
I’m thinking the two of them need to make a trip to Cameroon. Separately –
where they’ll meet and butt heads.
The driving issue
will be breast cancer education, diagnosis, and treatment in these three West
African countries that hold a special place in my heart. From the sale of the
stories, I’ll donate the money to breast cancer research in those places…
As for current
work going on there, there does seem to be movement and as you’d expect, it’s
in the area of EDUCATION AND AWARENESS. “A recent review using the most recent
data available for the entire continent showed that breast cancer was the most
commonly diagnosed cancer among women in 2008. There were an estimated 92,600
cases…breast cancer recently overtook cervical cancer as the most commonly
diagnosed cancer in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria,
Chad, Sudan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Niger, Namibia, Congo, Kenya,
and Somalia. This change was attributed to increases in the prevalence of
breast cancer risk factors associated with urbanization and economic
development, such as earlier menarche, later childbearing, having fewer
children, obesity, and increased awareness and detection.”
As well, “Worldwide,
breast cancer mostly occurs after the age of 50 years. The situation is
different in our context where it occurs at a relatively younger age, 46 years.
The majority of these cases in our setting are diagnosed at advanced stages of
the disease because of difficulties in
access to health care among other factors, underscoring the importance of
early diagnosis through screening. According to the WHO, breast cancer is
responsible for 25% of cancer deaths in the world with the majority of these
deaths occurring in the developing countries. Although incidence of breast
cancer is lowest in African countries, survival rates are also lowest. The
majority of breast cancer deaths, 69%, occur in developing countries.”
A ray of hope? Run
for a Cure, Africa has this as its mission: “To Win the fight against breast
cancer in Africa by erasing societal stigmas; providing affordable breast
cancer screenings, and creating more access to quality breast care. Their vision is to “…turn the current
90% breast cancer mortality rate in Africa into the 99% survival rate.”
So…the fight goes
on in places most of us have never heard of. Hallelujah!
Resource: http://file.scirp.org/pdf/ABCR_2015033017061944.pdf,
http://allafrica.com/stories/201607181336.html,
http://file.scirp.org/pdf/OJOG_2016110715230808.pdf,
http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9921334c92e792139971fa508&id=22224a0179&e=7c62834bc7
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