Treatment and Prevention of cancers should include the everyday man- Health Minister

Health Professionals from the Region along with a local team will spend the next two days working on a plan for the management and diagnosis of cancer in Guyana. The three-day workshop opened today (Tuesday, May 16, 2017) at the Pegasus Hotel.

The expected outcome of the workshop is to have medical personnel be more knowledgeable about early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of common cancers, as well as palliative care.

However, Minister of Health Volda Lawrence in her remarks at the opening says while she hopes to see strategic and innovative policies geared at prevention and treatment of cancers and other non-communicable diseases, these policies must take into account the everyday man.

To this end, she has called on health professionals and experts to design such a system.

“I have no doubt that the goal of this workshop is achievable, since we have a core of eminent specialists as resource persons, expressing their various oncological fields, and a team of participants passionate for the knowledge of expertise that will enable them to strengthen the overall health sector, by improving the diagnosis and management of cancers,” Minister Lawrence pointed out.

On the part of the Ministry, Mrs. Lawrence says there has to be a re-examination of the Action Plan with a view of evaluating the impact and setting new indicators to bring about effective changes regarding these kinds of diseases.

Data from the Cancer Registry show that breast, cervical and uterine cancers are the leading cancers of death in women, while prostate and colon cancers are the leading causes of cancer in men.

The workshop was organised by the Pan American Health Organisation /World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO). It targets general medical officers working in cancer care and treatment, and medical doctors working in the satellite clinics throughout the country, doctors in Regions One and Nine, nurses working in the Visual Inspection using Acetic acid (VIA)  programme and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

PAHO/WHO Country Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow said that this workshop has been in the pipeline for almost two years. Dr. Adu-Krow noted that the incidence of cancer and other NCDs are very alarming, and therefore it is imperative that there is a system in place to ensure that persons get access to the necessary, information and treatment.