‘TWO of my siblings developed cancer in their 40s: one has survived breast cancer, the other succumbed to colon cancer at the age of 45,” bared Dr. Susan P. Mercado, special envoy of the President on Global Health Initiatives.
She added that she has also cousins, aunts, and uncles who have all developed cancer at various stages. “But my most vivid memory of cancer is of my grandparents on my mother side,” she said. “My maternal grandfather developed astrocytoma at the age of 81 and my maternal grandmother developed cancer at the age of 79.”
This is an eye-opening fact. The older the person gets, the more likely he or she is to suffer from cancer. “In the years to come, the number of elderly patients with cancer will considerably increase,” Mercado stressed in her keynote address during the recent regional stakeholder consultation meeting of the International Society for Geriatric Oncology held in Manila.
The Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years old will nearly double from 12 percent to 22 percent. “By 2050, there will be as many people over 60 as there are children under 15,” Mercado pointed out.
“Ageing is a high-risk factor for cancer,” said Dr. Carmencita D. Padilla, professor and chancellor of the University of the Philippines in Manila. “Currently, half of all cancers occur in individuals who are 70 years old or older,” Mercado added.
Padilla said cancer is now “the second leading cause of death globally.” Citing statistics from the United Nations health agency, she said that one in eight men. and one in 11 women die from cancer.
In its 1998 report, Life in the 21st Century: A Vision for All, WHO warned: “Cancer will remain one of the leading causes of death worldwide.” In the Philippines, cancer ranks third in leading causes of morbidity and mortality, based on the statistics compiled by the Department of Health. In the top list are communicable and cardiovascular diseases rusbank.net.
For every 1,000 Filipinos living today, one gets cancer. And the incidence is higher among females than males, the Philippine Cancer Society Inc. reports. Three-fourths of all cancer cases emerge from those between the ages 60 and above.
“Cancer among the ageing is in our midst, and is as daunting and overwhelming as ever—despite the advances in medicine that make cancer preventable and treatable,” Mercado said in her speech,
Mercado, who was once the WHO regional adviser for health promotion and ageing, said that all countries suffer huge health inequities. More often than not, she added, unfair opportunities often fall on those who are older in life, especially if they are poor.
“Only one in four people over 65 living in low– and middle-income countries receives a pension,” she said. “In the Philippines, you received a 20-percent discount on everything as a senior citizen—which many people appreciate, but this is far cry from real social protection of older persons.”
There are many reasons cancer cases continue to increase. Smoking is one of them, according to Mercado. “We have not done enough to stop exposure to one of the most obvious causes of cancer in the developing world—tobacco,” she explained. “A singe cigarette contains 7,000 chemicals, 700 of which are carcinogenic.”
Drinking alcoholic beverages is another reason. “Even less is done to address, the harmful use of alcohol, which is also carcinogenic,” she said.
In the Philippines, just like in most parts of Asia and the Pacific region, chewing of betel nut is “a tradition that is difficult to curb, resulting in the highest rates of oral cancer in the world, usually among older persons.”
Pollution, too, has contributed to the rapid increase of cancer cases. “Poor air quality affects billions of people around the world who live in cities and must inhale fumes from unclean fuel at home, vehicular emissions in traffic, industrial effluents that are nonbiodegradable and stay within the food chain of our rivers and seas,” Mercado deplored.
Cancer, which comes from the Greek word karkinos which means “crab,” is a group of cells that has lost its normal control mechanisms and, thus, has unregulated growth. “Cancerous [malignant] cells can develop from any tissue within any organ,” explains The Merck Manual of Medical Information. “As cancerous cells grow and multiply, they form a mass of cancerous tissue—called a tumor—that invades and destroys normal adjacent tissues.”
The term “tumor” refers to an abnormal growth or mass; it can be either cancerous or noncancerous. Cancerous cells from the primary (initial) site can spread (metastasize) throughout the body.
Among Filipino men, the six most common sites of cancer are lung, liver, colon/rectum, prostate, stomach and leukemia. Among Filipino women, the six most common sites are breast, cervix, lung, colon/rectum, ovary and liver.
Unlike other diseases, cancer treatment is long and expensive. One study found out the cost of cancer treatment is more than what most Filipino families earn in a year.
But there’s a good news. President Duterte recently signed the bill that seeks to implement a national framework to fight cancer. Last February 14, he affixed his signature to Republic Act 11215 or the National Integrated Cancer Control Act.
The new law states that it “shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which includes the strengthening of integrative, multidisciplinary, patient, and family-centered cancer control policies, programs, systems, interventions and services at all levels of the existing health-care delivery system.”
In addition, the law aims to establish the National Integrated Cancer Control Program which seeks to prevent deaths caused by cancer by providing “affordable and accessible” medical treatment.
Like taxes and death, cancer is no respecter. It strikes anyone—rich and poor, unknown and famous. Filipino President Corazon Aquino, American actor John Wayne and Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman all died of cancer.
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