No medical condition is easy to deal with and the ones that are terminal such as cancer are the hardest. What makes it so chilling is the uncertainty it brings, right from onset to cure. That the war waged against cancer has not met its intended conclusion further adds to the misery.
While most diseases have some signs symptomatic with the onset, picking upon the signs of cancer are nearly impossible, because cancer triggers uncontrolled and unregulated growth of body cells. New cell mutations are being discovered every year which is hampering diagnostics even further.
The Challenges
While detection is an ever-increasing challenge, the virality of the disease is another escalating roadblock. The disease is not communicable, but its spread is alarming. A recent WHO report published in The Guardian alludes to a 70% rise in global cases in the next two decades, meaning a jump from the 14m reported cases in 2012 to 25m yearly cases by 2032.
The cost of treatment is another big area of concern. The World Cancer Report states that pushing cancer out of the picture is an uphill task and efforts should rather be directed towards curbing cases of new mutations. Cancer research is one of the most expensive undertakings, and millions have been spent globally over the years. Poor countries, in particular, will be the worst affected with a high number of cases predicted there. The effect will trickle its way down to the low-income demographics, and what makes matters worse is that they are already coping with sub-standard diagnostics.
Though advances in treatment have been steadily streaming in, they have not been able to keep pace with newer challenges. That is another fundamental reason why cancer prevention and care trail the disease’s propagation.
Doing more than its bit to curb this dreadful disease is the Cancer Research, a philanthropic organisation to which Mr. Sudhir Choudhrie donates generous amounts in full support of the cause and its on-going research. Set up in 2002, the Cancer Research stands as the largest non-profit organisation in the UK that is supporting diagnostics advancement to scale down the ever-escalating challenges of the disease.
