War Against Cancer

In one week time, we would be celebrating the World Cancer Day; a day set aside to educate and intimate the public on the threat which cancer poses to human life.

Cancer has become a leading cause of death worldwide with Nigeria contributing no less than 15% to the incidence rate in Africa which in turn in on the rise at a very alarming rate. It is very disheartening to know that we are not doing our best to tackle this menance as cancer control schemes and programmes are still very much poorly funded. Our people are yet to be given proper sanitization about this disease and lots of life are constantly lost to this scourge.
I myself can count about three close relatives of mine which i lost last year to cancer. It's that serious, that's why i had to take the pain to look into this disease and shed more light on it; trying to bring into view some important measures, which if taken can help control and reduce the incidence of this deadly disease.
I'll start by giving an insight into what cancer is......

WHAT IS CANCER??

Cancer according to the National cancer institute is the name given to a collection of related diseases in which there are uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in the body.
Normally the body cells are to follow a particular growth pattern which is to grow, divide and die. Cancer results when this pattern is altered especially as cancer cells rather than die, grow and multiply remarkably too quickly leading to the formation of a mass of irregular cells that just keeps growing.

Due to the complexity of it's mechanism, it is actually difficult and slightly impossible to come to a perfect understanding of why this person develops cancer and the other does not.
However, scientists over the years have been able to pick point some factors or practises that increases one's chances of developing cancer.
These are referred to as RISK FACTORS.
They include;

AGE: The older you are, the higher your chances of having cancer. Age is considered the biggest single risk factor as risk increases after age 50. According to the National cancer institute, one-fourth of total cancer diagnosis are in people aged 65 to 74.

CARCINOGENS AND MUTAGENS: Cancer results from mutations in certain genes. This mutations are caused by certain substances called Mutagens. The mutagens that are responsible for cancer formation are called Carcinogens or Cancer causing substances. Examples are Radiations of Radioactive substances and Tobacco smoke.

Other Risk factors includes;
Chronic inflammation
Diet
Hormones
Obesity
Alcohol

PREVENTION

Cancer is nearly impossible to cure and overly expensive to manage. Hence, prevention offers the most cost effective and long term strategy for the control of cancer.
According to the World Health Organization, cancer is best prevented by avoiding it's Risk factors.
For example, Tobacco smoke has been found to contain more than 7000 chemicals, 250 of which are known to be harmful and more than 50 tagged carcinogernic. It will be in the best interest of anyone then to desist from smoking if he/she wishes to guard against cancer.

Also, Obesity has been linked to various types of cancer. Therefore all necessary anti-obesity measures should be put in place not just to avoid cancer but also some cardiovascular disorders.

It is a normal saying that you are what you eat. Eat well, Eat safe, Join the campaign against cancer

#itbeginswithyou