Fight against cancer in SA gets R37m boost
A Bold new effort is under way to boost the fight against cancer, which has long been overshadowed in South Africa by the war on HIV/Aids.
The disease, which affects roughly one in eight South Africans, is climbing the ranks as one of the country's top 10 health burdens.
Now the Medical Research Council has committed R37-million to three universities to establish research units geared towards specific types of cancer.
Professor Lynette Denny will lead the council's collaboration with the University of Cape Town. Their main focus will be gynaecological cancers, including those of the cervix, uterus and ovaries.
Professor Paul Ruff, head of the medical oncology unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the focus there would be on cancers of the breast, colon and pancreas.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal will focus research on cancers of the oesophagus, gall bladder and liver. Cancer of the oesophagus was among the top cancers affecting South African men in 2008.
The mortality rate for ovarian cancer is around 70%, while for uterine cancer it is about 20%. Of the 6000 women diagnosed every year with cervical cancer, more than half die due to late diagnosis.
HIV-positive women are five times more likely to develop cervical cancer.
The Department of Health last year began vaccinating Grade 4 girls in government schools against the human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer.
Preventative steps such as this, experts say, are the result of research being focused on specific cancers - interventions can be directed to where they are needed most.
Figures provided by Discovery Health show there has been a steady increase in the number of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer over the past five years. Similarly, endometrium cancers had increased from 167 in 2010 to more than 300 in 2014.
Denny said: "We will focus on immunology, vaccines, genetics and modern cutting-edge treatments for the various site-specific cancers."
Professor Vikash Sewram, chairman of a ministerial advisory committee on cancer, said more cancers were being diagnosed because more people were being screened.
"But where the focus needs to be is priority cancers," Sewram said, adding that research needed to be translated into public-health action.
Sewram, who is also head of the African Cancer Institute, said the intention was to ensure accurate cancer surveillance, better and quicker diagnosis, and access to treatment.
Surveillance would help to pinpoint the prevalence of specific cancers by age, sex, race and geographical area.
"You can't navigate blind. We will monitor new cases from the stage of diagnosis to treatment and even death to see how we can improve patient care.
"It will help us to identify hot spots and to characterise groups exposed to cancer-causing agents," Sewram said.
Global health projections estimate that the number of new cancer cases in South Africa will increase by 46% by 2030.
Dr Bobby Ramasia, principal executive officer of Bonitas Medical Fund, said the company's records showed that overall oncology costs during the first six months of last year increased by 15%.
Statistics from Discovery Health showed that breast and prost ate cancer made up the bulk of oncology claims.
Discovery, the country's biggest private medical aid, recorded 7148 claims for breast cancer in 2010, a figure that soared to 11192 last year.
Prostate cancer claims shot up from 5041 to 8636 during the same period.
Other cancer types that had experienced a significant increase in claims included those of the colon and rectum (30% up) and melanoma (up just more than 40%). Claims for cancers of the bladder and urinary tract rose from 659 in 2010 to 1080 last year.
Denny said cancer was a significant health problem that had been sidelined by other infectious diseases.
"As cancer has been neglected for so long, there is a great deal of catching up to do."
She said the new initiative hoped to produce major breakthroughs.
The most common cancers among different groups of South Africans are:
Women: breast, cervical and cancer of unknown primary;
Children:leukaemia, bone and kidney;
African men: prostate, Kaposi sarcoma and cancer of unknown primary;
African women: cervical, breast and Kaposi sarcoma;
Coloured men: prostate, lung, cancer of unknown primary;
Coloured women: breast, cervical, lung;
White men: prostate, colorectal, malignant melanoma;
White women: breast, colorectal, malignant melanoma;
Asian men: prostate, colorectal and lung; and
Asian women: breast, colorectal and cancer of unknown primary.
Source: CANSA