Health experts are calling for action to expand cancer care and control in the developing world. A paper published by the medical journal Lancet says cancer was once thought of mostly as a problem in the developed world. But it says cancer is now a leading cause of death and disability in poor countries.
Experts from Harvard University and other organizations urge the international community to fight cancer aggressively. They say it should be fought the way HIV/AIDS has been fought in Africa.
Cancer kills more than seven and a half million people a year worldwide. The experts say almost two-thirds are in low-income and middle-income countries.
They say cancer kills more people in developing countries than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. But they say the world spends only five percent of its cancer resources in those countries.
Felicia Knaul from the Harvard Medical School was one of the authors of the paper. She was in Mexico when she was found to have breast cancer. She received treatment there. She says the experience showed her the sharp divide between the rich and the poor in treating breast cancer.
FELICIA KNAUL: "And we are seeing more and more how this is attacking young women. It's the number two cause of death in Mexico for women thirty to fifty-four. All over the developing world, except the poorest-poorest, it’s the number one cancer-related death among young women. And, I think we have to again say that there is much more we could do about it than we are doing about it."
Professor Knaul met community health workers during her work in developing countries. She says they were an important part of efforts to reduce deaths from cervical cancer. They were able to persuade women to get tested and to get vaccinated against a virus that can cause it.
The experts say cancer care does not have to be costly. For example, patients can be treated with lower-cost drugs that are off-patent. This means the drugs are no longer legally protected against being copied.
In another new report, the American Cancer Society says cancer has the highest economic cost of any cause of death. It caused an estimated nine hundred billion dollars in economic losses worldwide in two thousand eight.
That was one and a half percent of the world economy, and just losses from early death and disability. The study did not estimate direct medical costs. But it says the productivity losses are almost twenty percent higher than for the second leading cause of economic loss, heart disease.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver with Vidushi Sinha. I’m Barbara Klein.
Today, I want to take a few minutes to speak with you-directly and clearly-about Ebola: what we're doing about it, and what you need to know. Because meeting a public health challenge like this isn't just a job for government. All of us-citizens, leaders, the media-have a responsibility and a role to play. This is a serious disease, but we can't give in to hysteria or fear-because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need. We have to be guided by the science. We have to remember the basic facts.
First, what we're seeing now is not an "outbreak" or an "epidemic" of Ebola in America. We're a nation of more than 300 million people. To date, we've seen three cases of Ebola diagnosed here-the man who contracted the disease in Liberia, came here and sadly died; the two courageous nurses who were infected while they were treating him. Our thoughts and our prayers are with them, and we're doing everything we can to give them the best care possible. Now, even one infection is too many. At the same time, we have to keep this in perspective. As our public health experts point out, every year thousands of Americans die from the flu.
Second, Ebola is actually a difficult disease to catch. It's not transmitted through the air like the flu. You cannot get it from just riding on a plane or a bus. The only way that a person can contract the disease is by coming into direct contact with the bodily fluids of somebody who is already showing symptoms. I've met and hugged some of the doctors and nurses who've treated Ebola patients. I've met with an Ebola patient who recovered, right in the Oval Office. And I'm fine.
Third, we know how to fight this disease. We know the protocols. And we know that when they're followed, they work. So far, five Americans who got infected with Ebola in West Africa have been brought back to the United States-and all five have been treated safely, without infecting healthcare workers.
And this week, at my direction, we're stepping up our efforts. Additional CDC personnel are on the scene in Dallas and Cleveland. We're working quickly to track and monitor anyone who may have been in close contact with someone showing symptoms. We're sharing lessons learned so other hospitals don't repeat the mistakes that happened in Dallas. The CDC's new Ebola rapid response teams will deploy quickly to help hospitals implement the right protocols. New screening measures are now in place at airports that receive nearly all passengers arriving from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. And we'll continue to constantly review our measures, and update them as needed, to make sure we're doing everything we can to keep Americans safe.
Finally, we can't just cut ourselves off from West Africa, where this disease is raging. Our medical experts tell us that the best way to stop this disease is to stop it at its source-before it spreads even wider and becomes even more difficult to contain. Trying to seal off an entire region of the world-if that were even possible-could actually make the situation worse. It would make it harder to move health workers and supplies back and forth. Experience shows that it could also cause people in the affected region to change their travel, to evade screening, and make the disease even harder to track.
So the United States will continue to help lead the global response in West Africa. Because if we want to protect Americans from Ebola here at home, we have to end it over there. And as our civilian and military personnel serve in the region, their safety and health will remain a top priority.
As I've said before, fighting this disease will take time. Before this is over, we may see more isolated cases here in America. But we know how to wage this fight. And if we take the steps that are necessary, if we're guided by the science-the facts, not fear-then I am absolutely confident that we can prevent a serious outbreak here in the United States, and we can continue to lead the world in this urgent effort.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Monday, October 13th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, help for Gaza as it rebuilds from weeks of war. We'll also have the latest on the Ebola outbreak. Hello everyone, I'm Steve Norman.
Countries from around the world have pledged $5.4 billion to help rebuild the Gaza Strip, portions of which were destroyed in the 50-day war between Hamas militants and Israel in July and August.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende said Sunday that there are many legitimate questions about "why donor countries should once again pick up the bill for rebuilding what warring parties have torn down.”
"We have not forgotten the issue of a two-state solution. It is back on the international agenda. And there is now a political momentum built up to pressure the parties to get back to the negotiating table.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced an immediate American donation of $212 million on top of another $202 million in humanitarian aid the U.S. had already committed.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the world community has "clearly recognized the massive needs" in Gaza.
Medical workers in Liberia are set to go on strike over a pay dispute today, a move that could deliver a serious blow to the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.
Meantime, a nurse who treated the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. has contracted the disease. The patient died last week. The nurse is in stable condition on Sunday.
The World Health Organization says Ebola has killed at least 4,000 people.
And at least ten people have been killed. It happened in a car bomb in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Another 15 were reported wounded by the explosion blamed on al-Shabab.
This is VOA news.
Officials in Iraq's Anbar province say Islamic State militants killed the provincial police chief there in a bomb attack that happened Sunday. Edward Yeranian reporting now from the VOA Middle East bureau.
Iraqi officials in both Baghdad and Anbar province are sounding alarm bells after a bomb attack killed the provincial police chief.
Anbar council deputy head Faleh Al Essawi warns that 80 percent of the province is now in the hands of Islamic State militants, and that the entire province could fall to the group within 15 days without reinforcements from Baghdad and more coalition airstrikes.
Edward Yeranian, for VOA news, Cairo.
Pakistani airstrikes killed at least 21 militants in their hideouts Sunday in the northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
According to the Pakistan Defense Forces, two militant hideouts were destroyed. [Three] Their claims [could be independently verified] could not be as journalists have been limited to their access to the tribal agency.
Pakistan's army says it has killed more than 1,000 militants and lost 86 soldiers since the start of an operation against the militants.
Pro-democracy protest leaders in Hong Kong have vowed to continue their occupation of the city streets after the Chinese territory's leader soundly rejected their demands. Hong Kong's chief executive also called their movement "out of control" and said it could not last very long. VOA's Daniel Schearf reporting from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong protesters Sunday voiced defiance after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said there was Zero chance' of meeting their demands.
Hong Kong's Beijing-approved leader said China would never rescind its decision against open nomination of candidates for the chief executive post.
Lester Shum is the protest leader: "What C.Y. Leung, the chief executive, said showed that the Hong Kong government still refused to take the responsibility to face the political issue caused by the Hong Kong government.”
Hong Kong is to hold a much-anticipated first direct election for chief executive in 2017. But China's National People's Congress in August set out a plan that allows Beijing-leaning officials in Hong Kong to choose the candidates.
Daniel Schearf, VOA new, Hong Kong.
Typhoon Vongfong has weakened to a tropical storm Sunday after racing northeast over mainland Japan, injuring more than 30. It had been [more intense] tropical cyclone this year, the most intense.
Some parts of the western areas of Japan's four main islands were forecast to receive more than 50 centimeters of rain.
Flight and train disruptions are expected to continue through Tuesday as heavy winds and rains from the typhoon reached Osaka as well as Tokyo.
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