W H O's new guide to cancer early diagnosis...

The World Health Organization given a statistics showing that about 8.8 million people die from cancer each year, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, stressing that Many of these cases are diagnosed at late stages, when they are harder to manage effectively. According to Dr Etienne Krug, Director of WHO’s Department for the Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, Diagnosing cancer in late stages, and the inability to provide treatment, condemns many people to unnecessary suffering and early death. It then a launched new new guide ahead of World Cancer Day (4 February), with the aim to improving the chances of survival for people living with cancer by ensuring that health services can focus on diagnosing and treating the disease earlier. According to the stated guide, Detecting cancer early can effectively reduce the mortality associated with cancer. In resource-poor settings, cancer is often diagnosed at a late-stage of disease resulting in lower survival and potentially greater morbidity and higher costs of treatment. The three steps to early diagnosis are: 1 Improve public awareness of different cancer symptoms and encourage people to seek care when these arise. 2 Invest in strengthening and equipping health services and training health workers so they can conduct accurate and timely diagnostics. 3 Ensure people living with cancer can access safe and effective treatment, including pain relief, without incurring prohibitive personal or financial hardship. Source:W H O/Guide to cancer early diagnosis