Rapid industrial development has been blamed as one reason for the recent surge of cancer cases in developing countries.

Cancer now tops the list of diseases contracted each year in Vietnam, while the country is ill equipped to handle the increasing caseload, health officials have said.

Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer contracted by Vietnamese males each year, followed by stomach cancer, while females contract mainly breast and cervical cancers.

The conference also cited a forecast by the World Health Organization (WHO) that from 2015, the world will see 15 million new cancer patients every year while nine million will succumb to the disease annually. Of this number, two thirds of cases are expected to come from developing countries.

In Vietnam, healthcare facilities are struggling to keep up with the demand for cancer treatment and care while many citizens report knowing little about the disease.

An inspection led by officials of the national cancer program at city and provincial general hospitals nationwide found that almost all facilities lack equipment, staff, and well-trained doctors for treating cancer.

Nearly one sixth of the hospitals don’t even admit cancer patients.

Thus, most with cancer travel to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, leading to overcrowding and a shortage of doctors. A lack of hospital beds, moreover, often forces two or three individuals to share a single cot.

A report issued in February by health foundation and consultancy Axios International, said cancer is now developing at an alarming rate in poor countries after once being seen primarily in wealthy ones. The report said also that low- and middle-income countries usually lack education programs to warn people at risk, and also lack doctors and drugs to treat them effectively.

A survey of more than 12,000 residents in 12 cities and provinces nationwide, carried out by the Hanoi-based K Hospital for cancer patients, also found that many people lack education about the disease, said Tran Van Thuan, deputy director of the hospital.

According to the study, only 35 percent of the respondents had basic knowledge about cancer prevention and treatment, while more than 67 percent considered cancer a certain death sentence and thus thought disease detection was futile.

Meanwhile, nearly 36 percent of respondents thought cancer patients should avoid surgery as a treatment option because the cancer was likely to spread this way.

Studies have shown that one-third of known cancers can be prevented, one-third can be cured if found early enough, and the other third can be treated to extend a patient’s life, said Nguyen Ba Duc, head of Vietnam’s Cancer Treatment and Prevention Institute, late last month.

Officials at the conference also announced plans to launch more cancer-related education and training services for healthcare staff nationwide.

Following the first year of the national cancer program, five specialized cancer facilities have been established in general hospitals in Bac Giang, Phu Tho, Ninh Binh and Bac Kan provinces in the north, and the south-central province of Binh Dinh.

In addition, more than 31,500 women from the ages of 30-54 in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho City, and several provinces nationwide, have benefited from early detection of breast and cervical cancer thanks to the program.

In Hanoi, the rate of women diagnosed with cancer every year has doubled since 1988 while the number of breast and cervical cancer cases has tripled, doctors at the K Hospital reported late last year.

In HCMC, 19 out of every 100,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually and 17 out of every 100,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, according to statistics provided by city health officials late last year.

“Negative changes in the environment, in people’s nutrition regimen and lifestyle are some of the factors that are causing more cancer cases,” said Chairman Nguyen Chan Hung of the HCMC Cancer Association.

Many factories nationwide continue to discharge untreated toxic effluent into local rivers and emit dangerous toxins into the air. Several communities across the country have even been dubbed “cancer villages” due to reports of skyrocketing cancer rates amongst locals.

Health officials have expressed concern that in certain areas of the country, fruits, vegetables and meat contain levels of lead, mercury and arsenic, that if consumed over a long period, could lead to cancer.

Industrial waste also taints underground water supplies that a large number of residents throughout Vietnam still rely on daily.

“In order to have safe cooking, one must have untainted soil, air and water,” says Dr. Tran Van Ky from the Vietnam Association of Food Science and Technology.

The Axios International report also attributed the rapid increase of cancer cases in developing countries to the adoption of modern-day lifestyles, characterized by smoking, drinking, a lack of exercise, and a diet high in fat and sugar and poor in fiber, AFP said.

Source: TN, VNA