Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
Please find my latest
article published in the news portal odishasuntimes.com that has allocated a
blog space to me.
The article can be assessed at the following link:
http://odishasuntimes.com/30988/prevent-cancer-growth-discourage-liquor-spread/
I have also pasted below the same for your convenience.
Responding to the latest World Cancer Report, I have argued
why anti-liquor movements have to be supported and governments should stop
depending on revenue from cancerous sources such as liquor and pollution. Or
else, even if we take chemo facilities down to the local dispensaries, cancer
would still be spreading faster than ever before.
Look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Thanks and regards,
Ranjan
To Prevent Cancer Growth, Discourage Liquor Spread
by Ranjan Panda*
Each district headquarters hospital in Odisha would soon
have chemotherapy facilities for cancer patients, we were informed by a news
item published in a local daily recently. Ironically though, the same
government that has promised such facilities is also bent on creating the
conditions that would lead to a spurt in cancer cases. The just published
report of the World Health Organisation (WHO) World Cancer Report shows us how.
The WHO World Cancer Report 2014, released on 3rd February,
warns of a health time bomb that awaits human society, if preventive measures
are not taken in time. Lifestyle related issues need to be addressed urgently
if we want to diffuse this fatal time bomb, it says.
The cancer time bomb is ticking fast and could explode in the
none too distant future as the number of new cases globally has increased from
12.7 million in 2008 to 14.1 million in the year 2012. More alarmingly, this
figure is expected to rise to 22 million annually within the next two decades.
Over the same period, cancer deaths are predicted to rise from an estimated 8.2
million annually to 13 million per year.
As per this report, prepared by the International Agency for
Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer research agency of the WHO, the most
common cancers diagnosed in 2012 were those of the lung (1.8 million cases,
13.0% of the total), breast (1.7 million, 11.9%) and large bowel (1.4 million,
9.7%). The most common causes of cancer death were cancer of the lung (1.6
million or 19.4% of the total), liver (0.8 million, 9.1%), and stomach (0.7
million, 8.8%).
These figures are certainly mind boggling. The more
worrisome part is medical advances don’t seem to be of much use in tackling the
menace.
“Despite exciting advances, this Report shows that we cannot
treat our way out of the cancer problem,” states Dr Christopher Wild, Director
of IARC and co-editor of the book.
“More commitment to prevention and early detection is
desperately needed in order to complement improved treatments and address the
alarming rise in cancer burden globally.”
Why should we worry?
The report points out that more than 60% of the world’s
total cancer cases occur in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.
Tellingly, these regions account for about 70% of the world’s cancer deaths, a
situation that is made worse by the lack of early detection and access to
treatment.
The report recommends appropriate legislation to control
consumption of alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages and to limit exposure to
occupational and environmental carcinogenic risks, including air pollution.
But far from doing anything of the sort, our governments
appear to be doing the exact opposite.
In Odisha, just as in the rest of the country, policy makers
encourage alcohol consumption in the name of revenue generation.
Reports of women and locals protesting against liquor shops
are fairly common in the state. Instead of being actively assisted – or at the
very least protected – such anti-liquor movements are crushed ruthlessly and
liquor promoted unabashedly. New liquor shops are opened every few days despite
the stiff opposition by local people. Revenue has clearly become the sole
consideration of the government, health be damned.
In other words, cancer is being marketed.
Odisha has other worries too. Being a mining state, it is
increasing its load of pollution rather indiscriminately.
To make matters worse, it’s also a poor state. The poor and
common people, who are mostly affected by the twin evils of alcohol consumption
and pollution, can hardly afford cancer treatment. Cancer treatment, to be
affordable, would need heavy state investment on health, which means a big
burden on the economy.
According to the report, the spiralling costs of the cancer
burden are already damaging the economies of even the richest countries and are
way beyond the reach of developing countries. They place impossible strains on
health-care systems of countries.
In 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer was
estimated to reach approximately US$ 1.16 trillion. Yet, about half of all cancers
could be prevented if current knowledge was adequately implemented.
“The rise of cancer worldwide is a major obstacle to human
development and well-being. These new figures and projections send a strong
signal that immediate action is needed to confront this human disaster, which
touches every community worldwide, without exception,” stresses Dr Wild.
While there is not much data available about cancer patients
in Odisha, a research article titled “Pattern and Trends of Cancer in Odisha,
India: A Retrospective Study Report” by Mohammed Akhtar Hussain et al published
in 2012 in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, points to a manifold
increase in cancer patients in a decade in the only hospital chosen as a case
study.
This study brings out another worrying trend that should
disturb all of us.
It found out that the number of female cases increased
four-fold and that of males three-fold over the decade 2001-2011 for which the
study was made. Malignancies such as oral cancer (16.93%), acute lymphocytic
leukemia/non Hodgkins lymphoma (14.09%) and cancer of gastrointestinal tract
(21.07%) are leading cancers among males and carcinomas of breast (28.94%),
cervix (23.66%) and ovary (16.11%) were leading among females. The findings
from this study indicate an overall increase in cancer reporting, which could
be regarded as a proxy measure for the overall cancer situation in Odisha, said
the authors.
Sitting silent on this report could be fatal. We need to
check alcohol consumption, advocate for healthy lifestyles and above all abate
pollution without utmost urgency and seriousness. Let’s defeat cancer with
prevention before it defeats us.
The scenario has to be reversed.
Anti-liquor movements have to be supported and governments
should stop depending on revenue from cancerous sources such as liquor and
pollution. Or else, even if we take chemo facilities down to the local
dispensaries, cancer would still be spreading faster than ever before.
…………
[1] The author, popularly known as Water Man of Odisha, is a
leading water expert of the nation. He convenes a network called ‘Water
Initiatives Odisha’ and can be contacted at ranjanpanda@gmail.com
Source: http://odishasuntimes.com/30988/prevent-cancer-growth-discourage-liquor-spread/
