JEDDAH: Saturday marks World Cancer Day. The disease is responsible for killing 8.8 million people every year, according to figures released this week by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This year, light is shed on ensuring health services focus on diagnosing and treating the disease in its early stages. One of the main reasons behind cancer cases that the WHO highlighted this year was late detection at advanced stages, when it is harder to cure.
To Dr. Samia Al-Amoudi, an obstetrician and gynecologist who is a breast cancer survivor, improving public awareness of self-testing and early diagnosis is crucial to save lives.
“We (in Saudi Arabia) have managed to increase awareness about early detection, and there is definite change,” Al-Amoudi, who self-diagnosed her breast cancer, told Arab News.
“Empowering society with knowledge on cancer and (emphasizing) the importance of early detection, (in addition to) empowering the new generation, is the real key to change.”
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in Saudi Arabia, as the WHO Saudi file shows, comprising 18.7 percent of all new registered cases as of 2014. Colorectal cancer is the most common among men, at 12.5 percent.
According to information released by the Saudi Health Ministry this year, the main risk factors in the country are smoking — including second-hand smoking — unhealthy eating habits, obesity, lack of physical activity, genetic factors and unprotected exposure to the sun.
The first three steps to early diagnosis, the WHO advised, are: Raising public awareness of different cancer symptoms; investing in strengthening and equipping health services and training health workers on conducting timely diagnosis; and ensuring people living with cancer can have access to safe treatment.
Among the challenges in Saudi Arabia is proximity to screening centers. Not all areas have access to centers where they can run tests to detect cancer at early stages.
“Saudi Arabia is a big country, and access to screening centers is a problem in some areas,” said Al-Amoudi, who has been active in educating women on breast cancer since her diagnosis over 10 years ago.
“Also, the impact of culture and tradition is great as women get scared of mammogram screening (which is a type of breast imaging to detect cancer early) and the pain they might have during the procedure, although this is not true.”
She attributed dealing with cancer diagnoses as a “death sentence” to the lack of knowledge, especially with the recent modalities of treatment.
Early diagnosis of cancer can save millions of lives and also treatment expenses. In 2010, the total cost of cancer treatment was estimated at $1.6 trillion, according to the WHO.
About one in six deaths worldwide are caused by cancer. More than 14 million people develop it every year, and the WHO said this figure is projected to rise to over 21 million by 2030.
Lulwa Shalhoub - Arab News
