By Tony Best
Against a backdrop of a worldwide expanding cancer burden amidst a mounting need for services pinpointed by the World Health Organization, Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours and their diaspora are sounding an alarm.
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In Barbados’ case it is an insistence on early testing and heightened attention to the incidence of breast, prostate and colon cancers; in Africa where a million people die annually from the non-communicable disease; in the U.S where the American Cancer Society data showed “how the cancer incidence rate in recent years in women younger than 50 years surpasses men’s”; from Britain came a warning that it can face six million new cancer cases by 2040; while across Latin America and the Caribbean people were alerted that the region had recorded 1.5 million new cases and almost 750,000 deaths three years ago.
It was against that unequal and troubling global cancer picture that three Caribbean organizations based in New York — the Caribbean American Medical and Scientific Association (CAMSA), the Barbados Nurses Association of America (BNA) and the Barbados Cancer Association US (BACA – are blending interests, expertise and resources to provide up-to-date and vital information about scientific advances in cancer treatment and care in and out of the Caribbean; the disease’s risk factors; and other key elements to a global audience of medical experts, physicians, survivors, advocates and others on Saturday afternoon (Sep20).
Actually, the two-hour session is the annual Dr. Debra Brathwaite Cancer Symposium. It will zero in on advances, risk behavior, and palliative care. The sessions are expected to begin at four o’clock in the afternoon.
“This 20th annual cancer symposium reflects BACA’s enduring commitment to advancing cancer services for the Barbadian diaspora in the U.S, and for Barbados,” said G. Joanne Yarde, who heads BACA USA.
“These gatherings (have) fostered meaningful cross-cultural exchange with U.S. based clinicians, many of whom have been of Barbadian heritage,” she added. “All cancer advocacy organizations serving Barbados and its diaspora deserve commendation for their uuvering focus on equity in cancer care.”
Two scientists with Caribbean family roots, Dr. Lisa Barrow-Laing, lead medical science liaison at Bayer Pharmaceuticals in the U.S, and Dr. Wayne Greaves, a distinguished scientist at Merck Research Laboratories in New Jersey who served for years as a medical professor at Howard University in Washington are to participate in the symposium. In addition to Canada’s McGill University in Montreal, Dr. Greaves he was also trained at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Jessica Odle, a cancer survivor, and a former Barbados Consul-General in New York who played a key role in the creation of BACA (USA), is also join the panel of contributors at the symposium.
“For lives to be saved, it is imperative that education and advocacy about early detection and treatment of cancer and lifestyle adjustments be widespread, particularly in communities of colour where incidence is highest,” said Odle about the session. “It is crucial that people have the information and education about the disease so they can seek and receive care as early as possible.”
Dr. Sincere McMillion, a Caribbean nursing specialist who holds a doctorate in nursing practice in the U.S. and specializes in geriatric oncology is also to be a member of the panel at Symposium.
Earlier this year, the Barbados Cancer Society and its President Professor Rosin, raised the alarm about the increasing incidence of colon cancer in Barbados, attributing it to Barbados’ current diet.
“The anxiety here is not only is it the commonest cancer, but it also unfortunately more aggressive and occurring in younger men,” he complained.
The Barbados Cancer Society in Bridgetown has been a keen a keen participant in symposia in past years.
