Professor Doh Anderson, Executive Secretary General, National Cancer Control Committee, talks on the danger and prevalence of cancer in Cameroon.
How serious is the cancer threat in Cameroon?
Cancer is a major health problem all over the world. We have urged the population and authorities to look at the disease and help in its control. I am pleased because top personalities like the Director General of World Health Organisation, the Secretary General of the United Nations are all talking about the ravages caused by cancer.
Cancer is causing the death of millions of human beings per year, that is, about seven million people. In the next decade this figure could climb up to ten million. Deaths caused by the disease are more than that of HIV, tuberculosis and even malaria all put together. In Cameroon some 14,000 people are suffering from cancer and like in most developing countries we lose many of the patients.
If nothing special is done to curb the disease, cancer cases in Cameroon will climb up to about 20,000 and we might be losing 2/3 of the patients. This is because nearly 80 per cent of patients come late for diagnosis and what we can do at this point is just palliative care.
What is the cost of treating the disease?
It is when the disease is well established that we talk about cost. That which is important is preventing the disease and diagnosing early. This is why we have the cancer campaign during which we screen people of cancers that can be treated when it is at an early stage. When the disease is well established, it becomes costly and it is at this point that the government comes in.
We need a National Cancer Institute, which will facilitate and improve patients care and treatment as well as train other people so that care is not limited to Douala and Yaounde but also in other regions in the country. Cancer treatment is a relative thing depending on where the person is being treated. If we have a National Cancer Institute and people have insurance it will be less costly.
But for now, to get a full treatment of cancer, it is expensive depending on the type of cancer and the stage of the cancer. We should not insist much on the cost of treating cancer but the type of care offered to patients. Cameroon has the capacity of controlling cancer better than they are doing now.
Is cancer preventable? If yes how?
A third of cancer diseases can be prevented by educating the population, through the current cancer week on good manners such as the type of diet to eat, a lot of vegetables and fruits, physical exercises to avoid being obese which predisposes to certain cancers. The avoidance of polluting agents particularly tobacco in which much has been done to reduce publicity around it.
But of late, I realise that we need to do more in restricting the purchase of tobacco such as increasing taxes on tobacco goods, increase smoke-free areas. A cigarette has no beneficiary effects but it can cause cancer from the month to other body parts. People need to control their alcohol intake. A little bid of alcohol is not bad but excess intake of alcohol predisposes to cancer.
