Daily Times

LAHORE: The World Cancer Day is being observed across the world, including Pakistan, on Sunday (today) with an aim to raise awareness among people about the disease.

A number of seminars, workshops and discussions will be held at different hospitals of the provincial metropolis to raise awareness among the masses about the deadly disease. According to health professionals, prevention offers the most cost-effective and long-term strategy for the control of cancer.

Health experts said cancer was a leading cause of death around the world, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 84 million people would die of cancer between 2005 and 2015.

The main types of cancer leading to overall cancer mortality each year are: 1.4 million deaths per year due to lung cancer; stomach 866,000 deaths, liver 653,000 deaths, colon 677,000 deaths and 548,000 deaths from breast cancer.

The health experts said that early detection of cancer greatly increased the chances for successful treatment. They said cancer was the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells. It could affect almost any part of the body and the growth often invaded surrounding tissue and could metastasize to distant sites.

On this occasion, Dr Neelam Siddiqui, consultant medical oncologist of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCHRC), stressed that it was an international day to raise awareness about cancer and to make it a health priority. It was initiated by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), to encourage prevention, early detection, and appropriate treatment of cancer at an international level.

She added that cancer was now one of the world’s biggest healthcare challenges. “Every year 8.2 million people die worldwide due to cancer. While 14 million new cancer cases are registered every year. It is the most common cause of death in many countries and globally efforts are being made to understand its risk factors and how to prevent it. Due to the ongoing research and prevention strategies in developed countries, cancer incidence has gone down by twenty five (25%) percent. Unfortunately, on the other hand, cancer incidence ratio is going up in low and middle income countries such as Pakistan. This is indeed a matter of great concern,” she said.

Published in Daily Times, February 4^th 2018.