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Women beware, breast cancer kills

Health & Science

Dreaming about it is scary, but not having your breasts checked for cancer is suicidal, especially considering that early detection saves lives, writes HAROLD AYODO

A cancer diagnosis is a nightmare many women see as a death sentence despite assurance by doctors.

Tears roll down cheeks of patients, mostly aged between 30 and 45, as medics take them through their diagnostic results. It is more devastating when oncologists (physicians trained to treat cancer) give details on treatment medically referred to as chemotherapy.

Doctors say some women diagnosed with cancer walk away when told the breast will be cut off as part of the treatment. For most, their immediate fear is the fate of their families, career prospects and dealing with the stigma of living with one breast.

A woman at a free breast checkup clinic hosted by Aga Khan University Hospital at Nakumatt Mega along Uhuru Highway in Nairobi. Photo: Jenipher Wachie/Standard

Campaigns

Oncologists say more working women are containing the disease after early detection following regular screening. However, statistics show that different forms of cancer are a threat to women despite campaigns on the benefits of early detection.

Public Health Assistant minister Dr James Gesami says intervention measures must be adopted to contain all forms of cancer, including that of the breast. Locally, breast cancer alone accounts for more than 21 per cent of all cancers affecting women, according to the Kenya Breast Health Programme (KBHP).

KBHP’s Mary Onyango says breast cancer is emerging as the fastest growing diagnosed type of cancer among women countrywide.

“More women are dying from breast cancer as the disease does not receive the attention it deserves,” Mary says.

She adds that an alarming number of women do not bother to check their breasts, citing a general lack of awareness to perform self-breast examinations.

Separately, Nairobi Hospital consultant surgeon Dr Joseph Githaiga says breast and cervical cancer are not the only forms of cancer that affect women.

Hormone replacement

“Lung and bronchus, colonal and rectal, uterine and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are other forms of cancer that increasingly affect women,” Dr Githaiga says.

According to him, breast cancer is increasingly common to women who prescribe hormone replacement therapy.

“Most reported cases of cancer are for women in their 40s. It knows no social barrier. However, cervical cancer is common with the poor who rarely go for pap smear,” he says.

Aga Khan University Hospital Oncology Services Manager David Makumi says early detection is the most effective way of fighting breast cancer.

“Women are more vigilant about their health. Most working women are aware of the importance of screening and our breast cancer clinic has recently recorded an increase of service subscribers,” says Makumi, who is also the Kenya Cancer Association (KCA) vice-chairman.

For instance, the demand for mammograms surged between September and December last year at Aga Khan after an awareness programme in Nairobi and Kiambu.

“We saw more than 3,000 women during the awareness campaigns,” says Makumi. “We normally record high numbers in our clinic after the campaigns. In addition, medical records show that working women even come for check-ups and appointments during the week, which is encouraging.”

Makumi says increased consultations have also been recorded following their free breast health education and examination clinics held every last Saturday of the month.

Medical researchers say women can reduce their risk of developing cancer by changing their lifestyles. At the University of Oxford, for instance, researchers recently studied 1.3 million women over a seven-year period and found that moderate drinking of alcohol put them at risk. According to the study, as few as one to three drinks per week puts women at a higher risk for breast cancer.

“Globally, about 30 to 40 per cent of all cancers are related to unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and obesity,” Dr Githaiga says.

Decrease risk

Avoiding breastfeeding and increasingly popular treatments common with modern women like post-menopausal hormone therapy decreases the risk of breast cancer.

However, family history could double the chances of cancer.

Unfortunately, African women are more likely to die from breast cancer compared to white women partly because their tumours grow faster.

Latest research also shows that women who have had no pregnancies or had their first child after the age of 30 are more at risk of breast cancer.

According to figures at the cancer association registry in Nairobi, 23 per cent of women suffer from breast cancer and 20 per cent from cervical cancer.

“Other cancers that affect women are ovarian, stomach, colon and skin cancer, which are rarely talked about,” Makumi says.

As the breast cancer continues to haunt women, medical researchers say more could be saved through Government intervention.

For starters, the country lacks legal frameworks that can contain the condition, which is characterised by the abnormal growth of cells in the body. There is also no cancer registry with details of patients affected by the ailment.

Draft legislation

Recently, a group of doctors, lawyers, politicians and cancer survivors met to discuss the possibility of moving a private member’s draft legislation.

The National Cancer Control and Prevention Bill, if passed, would tackle the disease. The law would also ensure that cancer patients could, in future, easily access affordable screening and arrest the cancer in good time.

The problem with cancer, however, is that people don’t suffer aches while it progresses until it has reached stage three, where even radical surgery would not make much difference.

Fortunately, women MPs like Elizabeth Ongoro, Millie Odhiambo and Prime Minister’s wife Ida Odinga are in the forefront championing support for the Bill.

Meanwhile, Dr Gesami announced that the public health ministry had prepared a National Cancer Control Policy (NCCP).

“The policy will give direction in matters of prevention, management and control of the disease,” Dr Gesami assures.

He says the NCCP Bill is ready for presentation for debate in Parliament. If passed into law, the Bill would provide the legal framework within which issues of cancer control would be conducted.

The legal framework would also harmonise the availability of drugs and screening guidelines, and aid in mapping the disease countrywide.

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