(By Ernesto Cooke) – While Vincentians are protesting the recent incidents of gun violence and the lives lost, many may have been overlooking the killer menace called “CANCER”.
This disease which is wreaking havoc across the world has been identified as the leading cause of death here in St Vincent, with statistics showing 172 deaths in 2016.
The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) says that cancers are the second leading cause of death in the region and while it has acknowledged that, nearly one-half of cancers are preventable or treatable if detected early.
Data analyzed shows that the highest cancer mortality rates within the sub-region are in St Vincent & the Grenadines and Grenada, while Belize and Guyana have the lowest rates within the region.
According to the data retrieved from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Mortality Database, the ranking of the top five causes of cancer deaths by gender in St Vincent & the Grenadines were as follows, for males:
1 Prostate
2 Colorectal
3 Lung
4 Stomach
5 Pancreas
The top five causes of cancer death by gender in St Vincent were as follows, for females:
1 Breast
2 Cervix
3 Uterine Corpus
4 Colorectal
5 Ovary
The information from PAHO was corroborated by CARPHA, which stated that among females, Breast Cancer is the main cause of death, followed by Cervical Cancer. Prostate Cancer is ranked as the leading cause of cancer death among males.
The study by PAHO showed Cancer risk factor prevalence in St Vincent as follows:
*Current tobacco smoking prevalence in adults (%) Males 21.9 Females 2.5
*Alcohol consumption (litre/person/year) Males 9.2 Females 3.9
*Overweight and obesity in adults (%) Males 51.3 Females 61.3
*HPV prevalence in women with normal cytology (%) 29.6
Overweight/obesity is also of significant concern, with an average prevalence of 59.4% among adults in this sub-region.
Women are much more likely to be overweight or obese with 61.3% of females bearing that burden in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
All countries in the analysis reported having a national cancer control policy/plan/strategy, with the exception of St Vincent, Bahamas and Guyana.
Breast cancer screening programmes, mainly opportunistic, have been established in eight countries (St Vincent, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, and St Lucia), mainly using clinical breast examination as the modality and with a very wide target population.
Chemotherapy treatment and Radiotherapy services are not available here according to the data.
Total deaths in St Vincent and the Grenadines for the year 2016 amounted to 922.
In an additional study, researchers from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the rates of death from cervical cancer, breast, prostate and colon cancer are two to nine times higher in the Caribbean compared to the United States.
