Today, the African Region joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Cancer Day, under the theme: “Dispel damaging myths and misconceptions about cancer”.
Every year, nearly 8 million people die of cancer but many of these deaths can be avoided with greater public awareness, increased government support and funding for prevention, detection and treatment. Cancer is not a disease affecting the affluent and elderly people, and developed countries alone. It is a global epidemic, affecting all ages, in low, middle and high income countries. The number of cancer cases and related deaths worldwide is expected to double over the next 20-30 years. African countries will be the most affected by the burden of cancer, but are of all developing countries the least able to cope with the challenges cancer presents.
Misinformation, myths, misconceptions and prejudices about cancer are major obstacles to effective cancer control and treatment. The diagnosis of cancer is a distressing or shocking event to an individual that can stir up fear, anger, anxiety, and loneliness. Stigma and discrimination associated with cancer prevent people from being open about the disease and this is an impediment to prevention, early detection and treatment.
Millions of lives can be saved each year if along with effective preventive and management measures, accurate cancer information is provided to the general public, and old attitudes and myths about cancer are discarded. We must strengthen and scale up progress made on tobacco control, and to address other risk factors such as physical inactivity, poor diet and the harmful use of alcohol that may contribute to occurrence of some cancers.
Although African governments have made efforts to address the burden of cancer in the Region, we must scale up the process aimed at developing and implementing national cancer control plans, strengthen the Health workforce and establish cancer surveillance systems.
I reiterate my call for governments and donors to allocate adequate resources for cancer control and to scale up community-based interventions. Sustained commitment of development partners and communities is vital to address the challenges related to cancer control.
Each of us has a role to play in this effort. Emphasis should be laid on the daily involvement of families, health professionals, and civil society organizations to demystify all prejudices, preconceptions and myths about cancer.
WHO will continue to provide guidance for appropriate policies and interventions against all forms of cancers.
Thank you