200,000 risk developing cancer yearly: Expert<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): At least one out of every 1,000 Indonesians are
\nat risk of developing cancer every year, according to Melissa L.
\nLuwia of the Indonesian Cancer Foundation.<\/p>\n
Melissa, the director of the foundation's Center for Early
\nDiagnoses, told a recent seminar in Malang, East Java, that
\ncervical cancer was the most common in the country.<\/p>\n
If detected and treated early, cancer can be cured, she told
\nthe 200 seminar participants.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's population currently stands at 200 million.<\/p>\n
Melissa said cancer could strike anyone, but those over 40 are
\nconsidered to most susceptible, as are those who smoke, either
\nactively or passively. She said active smokers are 20 times more
\nlikely to develop lung cancer and, once they get it, are usually
\nmore difficult to treat.<\/p>\n
Heavy drinkers also have the potential to develop cancer of
\nthe mouth, throat, and digestive tract. The odds are not good
\neither for those whose diet consists mainly of fatty foods; these
\npeople are at risk from breast, prostate and cervical cancer.<\/p>\n
Melissa also warned against consuming foods with additives,
\nhaving multiple sexual partners, or over-exposure to the sun's
\nrays.<\/p>\n
Early in May this year, the World Health Organization warned
\nthat chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, leading
\nkillers in rich countries, will strike hundreds of millions of
\npeople in developing nations in an unfolding global epidemic.<\/p>\n
\"The outlook is a crisis of suffering on a global scale,\" WHO
\nDirector-General Hiroshi Nakajima said.<\/p>\n
Some 24 million people die every year from chronic conditions,
\nnearly half of the global total of deaths. Circulatory diseases
\nsuch as heart attacks kill 15.3 million people a year, cancer in
\nall its forms accounts for 6.3 million people.<\/p>\n
The WHO's 1997 world health report warns that cancer cases
\nwill double in developing countries, and jump by 40 percent in
\nricher ones with about 15 million people expected to develop
\ncancer by 2020, compared with about 10 people a year presently.<\/p>\n
Although life expectancy has dramatically improved this
\ncentury -- to an average of 65 years in 1966 -- increased
\nlongevity is a mixed blessing, and sometimes even a curse, as
\nolder people are typically more prone to diabetes, cancer and
\nother chronic ailments.<\/p>\n
Third World citizens, who have traditionally been more at risk
\nfrom infectious diseases, are increasingly vulnerable to chronic
\nsicknesses as well, creating what the WHO calls a \"double burden\"
\nof suffering.<\/p>\n
\"Already, the outlook for most individuals in the developing
\nworld is that if they do manage to survive the killer infections
\nof infancy, childhood and maturity, they will become exposed in
\nlater life to noncommunicable diseases, \" the organization says.
\n(swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/200000-risk-developing-cancer-yearly-expert-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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