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FEW health issues have raised the alarm like cancer
has in the country. Cancer is the third leading cause of mortality
in Filipinos, with the first two slots occupied by communicable and
cardiovascular diseases. And while communicable diseases have shown
a gradually decreasing trend, the same cannot be said for cancer,
which continues to claim more lives year after year.
Certainly, what medicine now
calls an impending cancer epidemic needs to be addressed swiftly and
effectively, and efforts have been mounted in recent years that have
made considerable impact on the prevention and management of
life-threatening malignancies.
To see the bigger picture, we
need to look at the figures first.
Based on the 2005 Cancer Facts
and Estimates jointly compiled by the Department of Health and the
Philippine Cancer Society, roughly 39,929 men and 32,917 women
succumbed to cancer in that year alone—with approximately 106,844
new cancer cases expected to crop up. Lung, breast, colon/rectal,
liver and cervix/uterus malignancies are most prevalent. The age
factor figures significantly in the demographics, with a higher
cancer incidence rate in the older population. It’s sad to note
that cancer survival rates have barely improved in the past two
decades.
This clearly illustrates how
cancer has become the prevailing scare-word in communities across
the archipelago—from medical circles to the most remote barangay.
Realizing the need for an aggressive information campaign, the
government has firmly put public health efforts in place, beginning
with the establishment of the Philippine Cancer Control Program in
1988. It has undertaken primary prevention to address specific
cancer sites—with massive campaigns on antismoking, hepatitis-B
vaccination, safe sex and healthy eating figuring prominently in all
forms of media. The area of cancer pain management is also being
thoroughly explored.
There is also the C-Network,
which has since provided Filipinos with greater access to cancer
information, resources and innovations through its research,
education and community-building initiatives. With more than 30
cancer support group affiliates across the country, the C-Network
has also become a bastion of hope for cancer patients—providing
holistic assistance in medical care, counseling and auxiliary
livelihood, even as far as mounting events that cater specifically
to their emotional, spiritual and psychological needs.
Although cancer management in the
Philippines still poses a great challenge, the future now holds an
even greater promise thanks to the Filipino’s collective optimism.
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