Breast Cancer in Africa ....

   October is the month in the year set apart internationally to mark Breast Cancer Awareness. It is characterized by different programs ranging from walks and talk shows to free testing and detection programs. These awareness programs are very important because according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Breast Cancer is the leading cause of death in women every year and these programs afford people the opportunity to get involved in the fight against cancer and make a difference no matter how seemingly little.

    In Africa, though general awareness about cancer is rising and people are getting more informed by the day, some others still do not take necessary precautions as they ought to. The cause of this ranges from carelessness, to people simply assuming cancer to be a ‘ghost’ disease that can not affect them.

     Cancer is characterized by a malignant growth in the affected body part that causes abnormal body cells to divide uncontrollably. Normally, the cells in the human body continuously renew themselves and when a cell has exhausted its life span and is old, it dies off on its own and new cells are regenerated to replace the old ones. However when cancer develops, the old cells do not die off as they ought to and new cells are generated even when the old ones have not died off, causing a sort of growth referred to as tumors. These tumors are malignant in nature and can disintegrate from the original tumor and travel far into other parts of the body to generate more tumors.    

   Breast cancer is a form of cancer that is characterized by growth of cancer cells in the breast. These cells are malignant in nature meaning that they have the ability to disintegrate and travel to other body parts to cause growth of cancer cells in those parts too. This continuous spread can lead to the death of the affected person if treatment is not commenced early enough.

     As at 2008, breast cancer was the leading cause of death among women in West Africa with an approximate 30,000 new cases and more than 16,000 deaths. In East Africa, there was a record of 18,000 new cases and 10,000 deaths. South African women have been said to be at greatest risk of having cancer. Although, occurrence of breast cancer in men is quite rare, in Zambia, 15% of the breast cancer cases occur in men. (Science in Africa, 2015). It should however be noted that these figures are under-stated due to the unreported cases of cancer occurrences and resulting deaths due to limited access to adequate health care in some areas in Africa.

   In combating cancer, of all the developing continents, Africa is the most resource-challenged as there are fewer oncologists and also only 21 out of 53 nations have radiotherapy facilities. This poses a great challenge both to detection and treatment of breast cancer. (The guardian, 2011).

        Another critical issue in the occurrence of cancer in Africa is the fact that more and more people are approaching middle age which is the age biologically when cancer becomes prevalent. Hence efforts are being channelled into creating more awareness and also investing more in the health sector to cater for cancer cases.

           In most African nations, inadequate attention is being paid to the issue of cancer. This is partly because cancer is not transmissible as other prevalent and death causing diseases. This however is misleading due to the fact that statistics show that cancer kills more often than HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis combined. (American Cancer Society, 2015).

         Apart from the fact that the health sector in Africa is not properly equipped for the management of cancer in Africa, another serious cause is the fact that some people especially those with little or no education and the lower income population in the society see cancer as a ‘disease of the rich’. This is another misconception; as cancer occurs majorly due to genetic changes and other factors relating to the individual’s health and family history. It is not based on the financial status of the affected person; although intake of westernized diet which is more available to majority of the upper income members of the society has a strong association with the occurrence of cancer.

          There is also stigma attached to cancer in the society that makes people ashamed to seek help. This can also result in late detection.

        Lots of effort has gone into fighting breast cancer in Africa. One of the ways of fighting breast cancer is to encourage self-detection by regular breast examinations. Self-detection here can help increase the chances of survival of affected person(s) because prevention is better than cure and early detection can save a life. This is the reason why there are many awareness programs to reach out to people in the rural areas who do not know about the disease and also to remind those that know that Cancer is not a ‘ghost’ disease and that people everywhere are vulnerable to it.

         These awareness programs are organized by non-governmental organizations, social groups, corporate firms, religion houses and these programs take different forms such as walks, awareness shows (using media and choosing uniform color of wears to promote awareness), free testing and diagnosis, talk shows.

           In conclusion, everyone has a role to play in this battle against cancer.

            I look forward to a cancer-free World! Is this a possibility one would ask?

         As we commemorate October as the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let us as individuals and communities reach out by participating in the awareness programs around us.

            Together we can make our world cancer free. 

Written by: Paul Ozioma