6 February, 2015

Lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer

Lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in females in developed countries and the change reflects the tobacco epidemic in women, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Lung cancer has been the top cancer killer for men for decades in developed countries. It is also the leading cancer killer in men in developing countries, where breast cancer still kills more women than lung cancer, Xinhua news agency cited the report as stating.

The report, released on World Cancer Day, was based on the worldwide estimates of cancer incidence and mortality produced by the IARC for the year 2012. Overall, an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer deaths occurred globally that year.

Among the cancers, lung cancer was the most commonly diagnosed, with 1.8 million cases, accounting for about 13 percent of total cancer diagnoses. Lung cancer is also the leading cause of cancer death in men and the second leading cause in women worldwide, with 1.1 million deaths in men and nearly 500,000 deaths in women.

However, in developed countries, it now kills more women than breast cancer, the report said, noting the change reflects "differences in the stage and degree of the tobacco epidemic".

In several Western countries, where the tobacco epidemic began earliest and peaked by the middle of the past century, such as the US, Britain, and Denmark, lung cancer rates have been decreasing in men and plateauing in women, it said. Lung cancer rates are also decreasing in men, but continuing to increase in women, in countries where the tobacco epidemic peaked later, such as Spain and Hungary.

In countries where the epidemic has been established more recently and smoking has just peaked or continues to increase, such as China, Indonesia, and several countries in Africa, lung cancer rates are likely to continue to increase for at least the next few decades without large-scale interventions to accelerate smoking cessation and reduce initiation, it warned.

Specially, the report singled out China, saying lung cancer rates among women in China were higher than rates among women in some European countries despite a lower prevalence of smoking.

"This is thought to reflect indoor air pollution from unventilated coal-fueled stoves and cooking fumes," it wrote.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

06.02.2015

India a role model for eradicating malnutrition!

Terming malnutrition a global issue involving people from all financial backgrounds, health experts Wednesday said India could be a role model in dealing with the problem.

They said almost every country, rich or poor, faces a serious public health risk due to malnutrition either from under nutrition, obesity or micro nutrient deficiencies.

Releasing the Global Nutrition Report here in a conference - "From Data Deserts to Fertile Facts: Unleashing the power of data on nutrition in India" - a panel of experts said India was a "rising power house" and the world was looking at it to see how it deals with problems like this.

"Nutrition-wise India is important simply because of its size and the vast programmes it runs to deal with the issue," said Lawrence Haddad, co-author of the report and fellow of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Speaking on the occasion, Odisha's Health and Family Welfare Secretary Arti Ahuja said reduction of under nutrition requires concerted action across the board.

"Many states in India have made significant interventions in this regard, and the positive results are becoming visible now," said Ahuja, who is a member of the Independent Expert Group for the Global Nutrition Report.

The report tracks worldwide progress for all 193 UN member countries in improving their nutrition status by bringing together data on more than 80 nutrition indicators, including programme coverage, underlying determinants such as food security and water, sanitation and hygiene, resource allocations and political commitments.

It aims to contribute to country-led efforts to strengthen accountability and accelerate the reduction of malnutrition.

Haddad said new preliminary data from India suggests a faster improvement in the reduction of malnutrition than anticipated. Yet, with the lowest rank among 100 countries, India is vulnerable on sanitation and other underlying determinants for under nutrition, Haddad added.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

06.02.2015

A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself

Axel Munthe