KARACHI: Health experts on Friday highlighted that most types of cancers, including blood cancer, had their roots in the environment and lifestyle.

Speaking at a press conference to create awareness about blood cancer, they said that around 3,000 children were diagnosed with blood cancer every year in the country.

They said that early diagnosis was crucial for complete cure and there was a dire need to develop facilities in the country offering holistic treatment to patients as they experienced serious side effects of medicines.

The event was jointly organised by Himmel Pharmaceuticals and the Karachi Press Club.

Environmental, lifestyle factors termed root cause of most types of cancers

According to the experts, blood cancer is the most common cancer among children worldwide including Pakistan and that accurate data on the disease in the country isn’t available as the country doesn’t have a cancer registry at the national level.

They said that blood cancer’s prevalence in the country was similar to what existed in other parts of the world, though factors such as high population growth, increase in life expectancy and more access to diagnosis and treatment facilities might have played a role in having a greater number of cancer cases today.

“Institutional data from 13 treatment centres located in big cities in the country indicate that 2,000 to 3,000 children are diagnosed with the disease every year,” said Aga Khan University’s Associate Professor Dr Naureen Mushtaq.

She added that the data wasn’t sufficient to assess the whole situation.

The experts shared that the most common forms of blood cancers in adults and children were acute myeloid leukaemia and acute lymphoid leukaemia, respectively.

“In case of blood cancer, [availability of] medicines aren’t a major issue. The challenge is to manage the health complications that follow the treatment,” Prof Dr Salman N. Adil of AKU pointed out.

He explained that patients needed continued medical support including quality nursing care to manage side effects of medicines.

Most types of cancers, he said, had been linked to environmental factors. “For instance, in our case, factors contributing to the illness could be consumption of food contaminated with toxic chemicals, using tobacco and exposure to radiation,” he said.

The experts regretted the economic turmoil the country had been going through causing a continued increase in the prices of basic commodities as well as drugs.

Fortunately, though, they pointed out, cancer drugs were now being manufactured in the country.

About cancer treatment in Pakistan, AKU Prof Dr Usman Sheikh said free holistic medical care in the public sector was only available at the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences in Khairpur district; though cancer units existed at a few tertiary care government-run hospitals.

The experts advised people not to ignore swellings on the body that might be painless, frequent infections, persistent fever and weakness, loss of weight, unexplained rash or bruising and consult doctors.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2023