EVERY household in Cyprus knows someone close to them with cancer, Health Minister Christos Patsalides told a conference held yesterday for World Cancer Day.
According to some experts, cancer is a pandemic, Patsalides said.
“Some 3.2 million people are diagnosed every year in Europe and 84 million will lose their lives to cancer worldwide unless preventative measures are taken,” he said.
“The way things are going with our lifestyle changes and an ageing population, cancer will soon overtake circulatory diseases to become the leading cause of death in Cyprus,” president of the National Cancer Committee (NCC), Adamos Adamou, said.
The NCC is responsible for drawing up a five year action health plan as part of a new European Union legislation to watch cancer incidents, but Adamou admitted that the plan outline will not be ready within the three month deadline.
“The task is huge and we need a few more months,” Adamou added. Talking about the NCC’s future plans, he pledged that the committee’s affiliated organisations would be better co-ordinated in the future.
There had also been a delay in Cyprus’ submission of its cancer data for the European Cancer Observatory’s archives. Explaining the importance of the archives, Dr Pavlos Pavlou at the Cancer Registry said that they would be using the archives’ data in policy-making. “I’ve been looking at the archives seeing a dash next to Cyprus, and now I’m glad we have submitted information,” he added. Cyprus has now added data on breast cancer, and colon and rectum cancers.
“We promise to do our best,” Pavlou said. “Let’s set the standard in Cyprus, we are capable of this – we can do it,” Pavlou added.
The NCC plan covers four categories: cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment and care, and research. The government has chosen to put together whatever resources it has available already and will focus on prevention, explained Patsalides who estimated that a 30 per cent of cancers could be prevented. Adamou proceeded to add a further 30 per cent to that figure.
Reference was also made to skin cancer. Although skin cancer rates are low in relation to the rest of the European Union, “there is an obvious increase,” said Pavlou.
Cyprus has 360 days of sunshine a year and “[sun damage] never goes away, it piles up in the body,” said medical officer Myrto Azina. One single melanoma might cause cancer, she added. People should apply a factor 30 sunblock 30 minutes before direct sun exposure and avoid being under the sun between 10am and 5pm. Sun beds should be avoided, especially by teenagers. People should cover up as much as possible, not forgetting to wear sunglasses to prevent eye conditions, such as cataracts, Azina added.
