THE BIG 'C WORD'!!

The Big C Word (cancer) is a bit of a taboo subject in the UK, with people avoiding the subject totally in a lot of cases. But in Tanzania the situation is worse still as it is under recognised and over shadowed by HIV and AIDS. Although cancer can have a good prognosis, local doctors missing early signs and giving incorrect diagnosis' due to their limited knowledge of cancer and the public not being aware of what they should be looking out for, leads to cancer being picked up at a late stage and sadly with a much poorer end outcome to cancers in the UK; with the majority of patients dying withing a year of diagnosis.

In the UK the most commonly diagnosed cancer in females is Breast, followed by lung and bowel. In males, prostate is most common followed too by lung and bowel.. In Tanzania the common cancers are very different..

Whereas cervical cancer is the 19th most common cancer (Cancer Research, 2010), it is the most prevelant cancer amongst women; especially common in areas of non-circumsised men - a causal factor of the disease, along with the HPV virus. It accounts for between 35-40% of all cancers in Tanzania.

With men, the most commonly diagnosed cancer is Kaposi's sarcoma (a skin cancer) something relatively rare in the UK. It is caused by the Herpes virus and there are two types that affect the African population - AIDS related and African endemic, which are much more aggressive than the type that affects the UK. Numbers of this disease are so high due to the incidence of AIDS in Africa and it is considered to one of the AIDS defining diseases.

Other common cancers include skin cancer, primary liver cancer and Burkitt's lymphoma.

Although skin cancer is easily treatable, it is much more noticable in caucasian people due to the colour of skin. In coloured people it is often assumed that they are immune to the disease, therefore diagnosis is late when disease is advanced and potentially fatal.

Primary liver cancer is a disease rarely seen in the UK, whereas in Africa it is common due to Hepatitis B and C which are causal factors.

Burkitts lymphoma is a disease which was discovered in equatorial Africa and is divided into three categories. One category is classed as non-African, the other two are very commonly seen late stage amongst African children. It is related to the Ebstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and also HIV/AIDS (leading to it's high incidence).

Although the cancers prevelant is Tanzania can be life-threatening their lack of knowledge, late presentation and lack of money in the country mean that education, control and treatment of the disease is hard. And means that the majority of cases I will be seeing will be palliative to improve quality of life rather than obtain cure.

As you can see the cancers I will be experiencing will be very different to anything I have ever seen in the UK and at times I imagine it will be very trying and I will experience some very tough and sad situations.. it will definitely be an eye-opener in more than one way!!