Pink ribbons, pins, hats, T-shirts and wristbands will be all the rage this month, national Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pouring pink paint on the scourge, however, does not give it a pretty face.
Like a cunning nocturnal predator, the disease treads silently and goes about unnoticed until it swiftly pounces on its prey more often than not with deadly consequences.
The scourge continues to grow and spread across the globe. With its complexities it is hard to pin it down, give it a face and ultimately go out to the communities and educate them regarding it.
Cancer has been medical history’s worst nightmare since it was first documented in 1500BC by the Ancient Egyptians through till its first diagnosis in the 1700.
Three centuries later, it is still one of the most deadly grotesque diseases across the globe. Cancer continues to torment the human race since there is still no clear indication of a single cause, prevention or cure for this disease.
Statistics from the World Health Organization show that Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and accounted for 7.6 million(13 percent) of all deaths in 2008.
According to the records from the Cancer Association of Botswana, between 1998 and 2008 there has been 11,363 cancer cases registered in Botswana. This is a relatively large figure, especially taking into consideration that the population in Botswana during that era averaged at 1.7million. These cases continue to rise exponentially due to changes in lifestyle, environment, exposure to harmful substances and ignorance on how the disease can be prevented or detected at earlier curable stage.
According to information from the Ministry of Health, the “Surveillance on cancer in Botswana was weak until when the Botswana National Cancer registry became functional in 1986. The Registry is doing both retrospective and introspective collection of data hence difficult to determine when the first case was diagnosed.”
Statistics from the Ministry also show that the cumulative (collective) number of cancer cases registered in Botswana between 1986 and December 2010 are 13,314 and from all these 3627 (27 percent) deaths were registered.
Human beings are composed of cells and they are known as the functional basic unit of life. These cells are produced and shed by the body through a negative feed-back system and this occurs as and when the need to produce or shed arises. When the body does not shed its used cells or if cells multiply/ divide faster than the body utilizes them it either causes cell invasion or angiogenesis.
This in turn causes destruction of the healthy tissues; they continue to feed on blood vessels and, as these progress, a tumor will develop, cancerous tumors are known as malignant tumors.
There are over 100 types of cancer and each is classified by the type of cells and ultimately the body parts that are affected and or infected. Although there is no specific known cause of cancer, through extensive observation and research, it has been deduced that tobacco use, obesity, viral and bacterial infection, pollution and exposure to nuclear radiation and ultra violet rays all play a significant role in cancer patients.
The primary determinant of a type of cancer is entirely dependent on the cancerous cell’s anatomical proximity.
There are four common classes of cancer which commonly occur in Botswana.
The Carciconoma has the lung, breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers under its belt which can be detected by a biopsy. It arises from the epithelial cells which line the surfaces and cavities of all structures throughout the body.
There is also the Sarcoma, in which the cancer cells are formed in the bones, cartilages, fat, muscles and vascular tissues. These types of cancerous cells often attack the immune system resulting in another class known as the lymphoma.
In this instance the lymphatic fluid will be infected and since it transports nutrients to the bone marrow, tonsils and thymus gland, this will cause a defect in the lymphatic system and these body parts will also be infected. Another form of cancer is leukemia, it results when bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cell. The normal blood cells die after their use; leukemia cells, however, do not die, they ultimately crowd the normal red, white blood cells and platelets thus interfering with functions of other body parts.
There are quite a number of cases, which start of as an infection and result in cancer.
For example genital or oral warts can end morphing into cervical cancer, mouth or throat cancer respectively. Obesity and physical inactivity can also have a negative impact on the immune and endocrine system. If there is excessive consumption in salt, it could result in gastric cancer. Prolonged and continuous exposure to ultra violet radiation from the sun can ultimately lead to melanoma, also known as skin cancer.
It has also been deduced that medical imaging and exposure to nuclear power plants has little or no effect on cancer development, however it can become potent when it combines with other cancer causing agents. Cancer can also be hereditary and this is often caused by genetic defect in the body.
Symptoms of cancer vary and they too are dependent on the location of the cancerous cells. They can be either seen or felt like in the instances of tumors in breasts and testicles. If it is skin cancer it can be detected by a change in a mole on the skin.
Oral cancers can be determined by white patches inside the mouth and on the tongue. There are less physically apparent symptoms like brain tumors which are important to detect from the onset for cognitive function of the body.
Pancreatic cancers often push against nearby nerves interfering with the liver functions. These are often detected by Computerized axial tomography, which is more commonly known by its abbreviated names, CT scan or CAT scan.
For cancers that require the doctor to look directly at the organ like the colon an endoscopy is conducted.
All cancers have stages I to IV, these staging systems are used to determine how far the cancer has spread.
During the stage I period the cancer is often small localized and curable, by the time it reaches stage IV it is already deadly, wide spread and incurable. After treatment, patients can relapse because though the primary tumor has been removed, by the time it was detected it had already spread to distant locations.
Cancer is often treated by surgically removing the tumors, internal or external radiation therapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. It is important for patients to eat very well during treatment to keep the energy levels high and to reduce the side effects.
Batswana have not been spared from this deadly disease and will continue to be infected.
According to the Public Relations Office at the Ministry of Health, the Government of Botswana also recognizes the need to educate and inform Batswana of the disease. The set back, however, is that cancer is a non communicable disease; there are “no walk in” testing for cancers. However, there are screening services that are provided for selected cancers. Women are urged to conduct self test to check for tumors in the breasts and sexually active women are constantly being urged to go for “pap smears” to check for cervical cancer. They, however, cannot make a comparison between HIV and Cancer since a comparative study has not been conducted.
They further state that the most common types of cancer in Botswana is Cervix, skin, breast, oesophagus, eye, lymph nodes, liver, blood, lung, prostate, uterus in order of descending frequency and that there is a growing prevalence of cancer in Botswana. Factors that increase a person’s chances of developing cancer are tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity.
The 2007 survey on these risk factors showed that Batswana do engage in unhealthy lifestyles. 40% of cancer can be prevented through lifestyle modification such as stopping tobacco use, alcohol use, healthy eating and physical activity.
