Cancer returns to fore of health conversation
● Cancer is back at the top of the health agenda by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa announced in his state of the nation address that a “huge cancer campaign, similar to the HIV counselling and testing campaign” would be launched in the next three months. Now, the Department of Health and cancer activists will hold initial talks next week.
“Ramaphosa has an appetite for it. This was only one of three health issues he mentioned, including HIV and the National Health Insurance,” said department deputy director- general Dr Yogan Pillay.
The first phase of the new campaign, says Pillay, is going to focus on “awareness, early detection, self-screening, and then linkages to treatment”.
Different types of cancer required varied approaches, and lifestyle changes were just a starting point. “This does not negate genetic and other biological causes of cancer — like brain cancer in children — but a large number are related to diseases of lifestyle . . .”
Next week, the department will meet stakeholders, including the Cancer Alliance, to build on the “the very good work many have done over the past few years to mobilise awareness and resources” in the fight against the disease.
Global campaigns and other local campaigns would also be analysed, while “society organisations, clinicians and several others” would be included to give input.
The ministry’s awareness campaign will not have come a day too soon.
According to a recent study, which looked at the total cost of lost productivity because of premature cancer mortality, South Africa has the highest cost per cancer death — $101,000 (about R1.2-million) — compared with the other Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa countries. India’s cost is a fifth of that.
In South Africa, said researchers from the University of Technology Sydney, the five cancers “resulting in the great productivity loss” are: lung cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, Kaposi sarcoma and oesophageal cancer. “Lung and cervical cancer had a particularly large economic impact,” they said.
Another warrior working tirelessly to stop cancer in its tracks is Elvira Singh, head of the National Cancer Registry.
She is at the helm of overhauling the registry so accurate data on cancer incidence is at hand for the health department to develop “appropriate cancer policies” and allocate resources most effectively.
At the end of this month, the first population-based data set will be published. This is an exciting milestone for Singh, who oversaw the data collection site (the first of four) being set up in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.