Cancer and the Global Equity Divide: A Call for Action Grace Gawler republished from The Conversation

This year more than half of the nearly 13 million new cancer cases diagnosed worldwide and two-thirds of cancer deaths will occur in the world’s low and middle income countries (LMICs). Nearly a third of these deaths could have been prevented

The Conversation
Published with permission in The Conversation 4 February 2013 – please read & distribute this important information.

Cancer and the Global Equity Divide: A Call for Action.

By Alessandro R Demaio, University of Copenhagen

This article was written by Toni Kuguru, Sebastian Rodríguez Llamazares, Alessandro Demaio and A/Prof Felicia Knaul.

This year more than half of the nearly 13 million new cancer cases diagnosed worldwide and two-thirds of cancer deaths will occur in the world’s low and middle income countries (LMICs). Nearly a third of these deaths could have been prevented with the knowledge and technology already available today. For example, only 10% of children diagnosed with leukemia in the 25 poorest countries of the world will survive compared to 90% of children diagnosed with leukemia in Canada.

 

The disease burden in developing nations is growing. Caused by an inequity in health, healthcare and resulting disease, the disparities across the cancer care continuum found between rich and poor countries remain largely unaddressed. The cancer divide is the result of these disparities — explained in the report of the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries-GTF.CCC and in the book Closing the Cancer Divide: An Equity Imperative.

The Cancer Divide

Evidence of this growing burden in LMICs is only beginning to be translated into effective and practical solutions. Traditional rhetoric argues that the challenge of addressing cancer in poor countries is unnecessary, unaffordable, unrealistic, and detracts resources from other more pressing development programs. However, the impending cancer crisis in LMICs remains too large to be ignored. Continue reading “Cancer and the Global Equity Divide: A Call for Action Grace Gawler republished from The Conversation”

Professor Karol Sikora – The Need for Integrated Medicine in Cancer Management

In 2003, after my bionic surgery in Rotterdam, I was asked to give the Penny Brohn Memorial Lecture for the Bristol Cancer Help Centre.  It was there I met Professor Karol Sikora and it was clear we had common aims in how an integrated system of medicine could better influence cancer patient outcomes.

Karol was the first professional whom I asked to make comment on my updated version of Women of Silence – the emotional healing of breast cancer. After reading the manuscript on the train he excitedly contacted me; writing the first accolade for the book.

This set a precedent soon to be followed by many other leading UK oncologists. Obligations to return to Australia, regrettably prevented me from accepting Karol’s invitation to be a part of his Harley Street practice.

We both hold the values of integrative medicine dear to our hearts. Interestingly, seven years on and continents away, we are both pioneering organisations that will train health care professionals in the delivery of both the art and science of medicine.

For more information see http://integratedhealthtrust.org/ and http://www.integratedmedicine.org.uk/index.php and my own site – read about the new Grace Gawler Trust – http://www.gracegawler.com/site/

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