Cancer: the silent but destructive killer that kills thousands of Cameroonians every year!

Courtesy - Harry Ndienla Yemti

Every year, some 12,000 new cases of cancer are recorded in Cameroon, the executive secretary of Cameroon National Cancer Control Programme, Anderson Sama Doh, has told Cameroon Tribune.

According to Sama Doh, statistics show that some 11 million people are suffering from cancer across the world, 50 percent of them in developing countries and the other half in the developed world. But, he adds, in the next decade, it would be 35 percent for the developed world and 65 for developing countries, given that developed countries are increasingly aware of the causes and how to prevent the disease.

Another problem of the developing world, he explains, is that most patients are not known until it is late. «More than 80 percent of our patients go to the hospital (only when the disease is already) in an advanced stage, and cure is no longer guaranteed.»

Sama Doh explains that cancer is curable if it is diagnosed in its early stage and advises that constant medical check ups are a necessary step to avoiding the risk of having to deal with chronic cancer.

Nevertheless, all is not lost for patients suffering from chronic cancer. He says patients with cancer in its advanced stage can still go for palliative treatment to relief the stress, pain, and other ills like fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, and short breath.

The expert explains that with palliative treatment, one needs to understand one’s conditions and choices for care. To him, palliative care helps patients to improve on their ability to tolerate medical treatment that would enable them go on with life.

Palliative health care, he says, could also be used to handle cases of such life threatening diseases as HIV/AIDS.