When the Paris Charter Against Cancer was signed on Feb. 4 at Elysee Palace, the parties were certain of one thing: the fight against cancer should and must be taken seriously.
The United Nations took it seriously too and Feb 4 was set aside as the World Cancer Day. Countries that are intentional about fighting Cancer has signed the charter and have consistently celebrated and marked this day as one of the important health days in their calendar and the fight continues.
“(It’s) so everybody will have an awareness that there is a lot more behind the scene when it comes to cancer,” Joseph Akinjobi a specialist in Family medicine, MD and CEO of the Pavilion Medical Clinic Inc, Prince Albert said. “It’s to show that cancer affects all of us – the patients, families, health care providers and even the community. It is not just a medical issue, it is social, emotional and a public health priority.
“For those of us who deal cancer patients we know how important this is amongst patients, their families, how life changing it can be, so having a day to show or create the awareness that cancer is there and what to do about it is very important.”
Akinjobi said participating in World Cancer Day is an important duty, and by taking part in it, each one of us in our own way plays a critical role. In many places throughout the world, cancer is still associated with terrible social stigmas. Changing this perception and changing the image of cancer is a key factor in the success in our long fight against this disease.
“It’s important to know that the burden of cancer is real,” he said. “I mean, its one of the leading causes of death worldwide and also in Canada. However, we should also know that many cancers are preventable and many are treatable, especially when detected early.
“There many cancers that people have beaten because we detected early, we diagnosed early and we offered treatment early. The people get better and they even lived long life afterwards.”
In Canada, in Saskatchewan, and in Prince Albert, Akinjobi said there are support structures that can assist cancer patients on their journey to beating the disease.
“The good thing is that when someone is diagnosed with cancer we have a system that works,” he said. “The family practice is an integral part of the management of cancer. More often than not everything begins at the family doctor’s practice, when you do your screening and you discover that something might be missing, then referral to a specialist, further investigation and the diagnosis that oh its cancer.”
In Prince Albert, there is a network between the family practitioner, the specialist and advocacy groups and support agencies. Akinjobi believes even more services when be available in Prince Albert when the Victoria Hospital project is completed.
For now, there are counselors available locally who can talk with the patient through the journey. There are support groups as well for people who are going thorough similar situation to sit together and share their experiences and comfort each other. There are psychologists that assists and helps the patients to navigate the path.
“We all know that when people are hit with cancer, chances of depression is high, so working with the family practice, working with the specialist, working with the multidisciplinary team, your dietician, physiotherapist help, there is a lot that can be offered locally to the people who have cancer,” he said.
Akinjobi also advised that “since we know that up to 40 per cent cancers can be prevented through healthy life style choices, I will implore people to maintain a healthy weight and stay physically active. An elderly lady told me that ‘Motion is lotion’ in other words if you don’t use it, you lose it.”
Residents are also encouraged to stop tobacco usage, try and be responsible, limit alcohol consumption, eat balanced diet according to the Canadian food guideline, practice safe sex (to avoid cervical cancer contacted through the HPV) during summer appropriate sun screening mechanisms should be used, cover themselves well to protect themselves against skin cancer.
“We also need to look into and encourage our physicians as well as patients to look into the screening that are available to detect cancer before the symptoms appears,” he said. ” Like a Mamogram for breast cancer, Pap smear for cervical cancer, an FIT test Stool test and we can discuss with the patient about the risk of having prostrate cancer among others.”
