There’s a lot we can do to reduce cases of cancer and save the lives of millions

It was recently reported that deaths in Kenya from cancer increased to 33 per 100,000 people in 2014, translating to 39 deaths a day. The government has invested over Sh21 billion in fighting cancer, mainly in diagnostic machines.

The good news is that several studies have suggested that aspirin, a simple painkiller that costs about Sh1 a tablet, reduces the risk of developing and dying from a range of common cancers by between 30 and 50 per cent. If adapted locally, this would be a game changer.

In the United Kingdom, the use of aspirin to prevent cancer is now standard practice. It is estimated that if everybody aged 50 to 64-years took a low dose of 75 milligrammes of aspirin daily for 10-years, the number of deaths from cancer in the UK would be reduced by 4,000 each year.

The use of aspirin as an anti-cancer drug goes back to 2011, when British researchers analysed data from 25,000 patients in eight long-term studies and found that those who took a 75-milligramme dose of this drug daily for at least five years reduced their risk of dying from common cancers by 21 per cent.

This evidence was strongest for cancer of the colon, stomach and oesophagus, and to a lesser extent lung, breast, and prostate. The benefits of this 2000-year-old wonder drug that was officially isolated in 1897 by German chemist Felix Hoffman, mainly as a pain-killer, is not new.

Since the 1980s, aspirin has been prescribed daily to prevent heart attacks and strokes in men and women aged 45 to 79 and 55 to 79 years respectively.

Use of aspirin to prevent heart disease and stroke is standard practice in many developed countries, in addition to smoking cessation, blood pressure control, cholesterol and weight reduction, and regular exercise.

There are only two reasons why your doctor may not be prescribing this drug for you: Ignorance and fear. Taking aspirin for long periods has been associated with excessive bleeding and death in some patients.

However, studies have shown that the benefits of taking aspirin far outweigh any associated risks. Much of the internal bleeding associated with aspirin is linked to a bacterium called H pylori found in the stomach.

However, its risk can be reduced by screening and administering appropriate antibiotics.

HIV positive patients, who are known to have a three- to four-fold increase in risk of dying from heart attack, can also benefit from daily intake of aspirin.

There are about 4,000 deaths from cervical cancer each year in Kenya, and most could be prevented if all women between the ages of nine-26 years received three recommended doses of HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine, in addition regular screening every three years.

Together, cervical cancer screening and the HPV vaccine targeting schoolgirls aged nine-12 years could prevent as many as 93 per cent of all cervical cancers.

Australia and the Nordic countries have been successful in implementing national HPV vaccination programmes targeting adolescent schoolgirls.

Vaccinated women who have been followed up over 10 years have remained disease-free and in Australia, genital warts have almost disappeared in females.

The HPV vaccine is given as three shots over the course of six months. The second shot is given one or two months after the first, and the third shot is given six months after the first shot.

For the best protection, it is important to complete all the shots long before sexual activity begins.

Breast cancer is the leading type in women. Studies indicate that about 38 per cent of cases could be prevented every year if women maintain healthy weights, are physically active, drink less alcohol, and they breastfeed their babies.

Breastfeeding your baby reduces your risk of developing breast cancer before and after menopause. There is also strong evidence that mammography screening every two years can reduce breast cancer deaths by 17 per cent among women aged 50–69 years.

In addition, one in three cancer cases can be prevented through simple lifestyle changes that involve alcohol moderation, improved diet, smoking cessation, weight reduction, physical activity, and breastfeeding.

Dr Obwogo is medical doctor and senior quality improvement adviser working for an international NGO. [email protected]