Worldwide Problem

Since July of 2007, when Meg was diagnosed with Invasive Ductile Carcinoma, breast cancer, I have been doing a lot of research and reading all sorts of things about breast cancer. I came across an article in Time Magazine that shocked me. I was pretty surprised to hear that in recent history, the disease has started to become prevalent in areas of the world that haven’t ever reported cases of breast cancer. For years, the disease has only been affecting mainly white women in the developed world. But that has changed, more and more cases are being diagnosed in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Taiwan, China, Romania, and India. By 2020, 70% of global breast cancer cases will occur in the developing world. Part of the reason for the change is better sanitation and control of infectious diseases, which in turn have extended life spans in the low-and-middle class countries. This is allowing women to age into the breast cancer demographic. But as evidence of my wife’s discovery, that demographic age is getting broader and younger women are being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Some of the stories in the article about women in these emerging countries are horrifying! Due to the lack of knowledge and education on breast cancer, many of the people in these countries believe it is contagious. In Brazil, a woman was diagnosed with breast cancer and her kids were taken from her. They feared the kids would catch the disease if she feed them. There was a woman in Nigeria who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and her very presence stopped a family wedding procession in it tracks. No one would go further until she left the area. She was part of their family and they just abandoned her. Then in Middle Eastern countries, the women are afraid to tell their husbands they have breast cancer for fear they will leave them that day. This ignorance and lack of knowledge needs to be changed. This disease does not discriminate and it will continue to effect women all over the world in staggering numbers.

Recently Susan G. Komen for the cure held a conference in Budapest with doctors, survivors and advocates from 31 countries to map out a global plan of action. A plan to educate doctors in third world countries about the disease, lower the costs of mammogram machines to make them more available, lower the cost of treatment options and overall better educate the people. One of the biggest problems in these countries is the lack of facilities and early detection devices. In Pune, India, there are over 3.5 million women and only one facility that provide comprehensive breast cancer services. Just think of the amount of women who are going untreated and undiagnosed! Also in South Africa, only about 5% of breast cancer is diagnosed in the early stages while over 50% of cases in the U.S. are caught early.

This is just a start to improving the screening, detection and treatment of this horrible disease on a worldwide basis. This won’t happen over night and many women will still be sicken and die from this disease in these less fortunate countries. But hopefully there will be hope for them just as there is hope for the women in the US and Europe. Please, if you haven’t made a donation yet, do so soon. Or get out and do a sponsored walk, every little bit helps! No woman should have to go through what my wife and many other women in the world have had to go through! If everyone made a small effort, this disease can be controlled.