19 Mar
News & Event

Breast cancer in South Asian women often diagnosed at a later stage: study

Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press 
Published Monday, April 20, 2015

TORONTO — Women of South Asian descent are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer in its later stages compared to the general population, while women of Chinese ethnicity tend to be diagnosed when the disease is at an early stage, an Ontario study has found.

Given that Canadians have equal access to health services, the findings suggest programs to promote screening and early diagnosis among South Asian women should take into account cultural factors that may be roadblocks to seeking timely care, the researchers say.

“There’s an education issue,” said medical oncologist Dr Ophira Ginsburg, a scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto, which led the study. Read more

19 Mar
News & Event

150,000 Pakistanis diagnosed with cancer every year

Pakistan is the 7th populous country with an estimated cancer incidence of 148,041 new cases. About 150,000 Pakistanis are diagnosed yearly with cancer. 101,113 cancer-related deaths (48,449 Men & 52,664 Women), and prevalence of 350,000 living cancer patients are reported in the past 5 years. The age-standardized ratio is more in females (128 Women & 96 Men per 100,000 populations respectively), Dr Muhammad Farrukh Consultant Radiation Oncologist at Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad said.

He was addressing the participants of an awareness seminar against cancer at Shifa International Hospital (SIH) on Saturday. Every year, on 4 February, World Cancer Day is marked, highlighting the health risks associated with cancer and advocating for effective policies to fight cancer. Discounted coupons for mammography were also offered to the female participants, said a press release. Read more

19 Mar
South Asia cancer scenario

Cancer: The name of the second death in Afghanistan

Cancer is not the only issue in the field of health, but the broad social, economic, promotional and human rights as well. Cancer-causing a huge challenge to development and human progress around the world, especially in poor and developing countries. Cancer is the cause and consequence of poverty. In other words, cancer and poverty interact with each other so that cancer negatively affects the ability of families and society. Because of incapacity, according to the cancer patients who are not able to work efficiently and incomes are low in comparison with healthy people and on the other hand, they consume many possibilities for treatment.

Human understanding of cancers and proportional to the level of individuals and society is different. In progressive societies, on one hand, curious man with modern knowledge and the search of websites and scientific books from the latest scientific advances has awareness and on the other hand, sectors involved-do continuous useful in identifying cancer. The view of the cancer is deep & based on scientific facts. But in poor communities and deprived people have not reached its fullest use of technology and related sectors, there is not enough capacity, people’s views are based on anecdotal and unscientific. In short, people in developed countries, cancer is mostly is known as a preventable and treatable disease, while people in poor countries including Afghanistan, named cancer as the second death. Read more