Today in Spain is Cancer Day - There are many different types of cancers and within each cancer type there are many different stages and levels of aggression so Cancer covers a huge range of illnesses. Statistics dont tell the full story because who takes statistics in rural Africa, Asia or South America - people get sick and die. In the US African American women and Black South African women are more likely to die of Breast Cancer - thats one set of statistics that is worth thinking about. No one should be dying of breast cancer in the 21st century. By the time the breast cancer is killing you it means the cancer has reached stage 4 ie it has passed into your blood stream, hit your lungs, liver or bones and that is what kills you - secondary cancer.

Breast cancer doesnt cause pain (not until it has spread to other parts of your body) so the only way to tell if you have it is by physical examination of your breasts and or a mamogram and scan. Where these are made available and people know about them - then women should not die of breast cancer. I had cancer - just decided to go to the well woman clinic for no particular reason and bang - cancer but worse cancer treatment. So my advice to those who can - is get your breasts examined regularly by a specialist nurse - in my case self-examination wouldnt have found anything because I didnt have a lump but a mass. I was lucky, the majority of women do not have access to basic medical care let alone blood tests, mamograms and scans.

Thinking about France and the abolition of slavery its worth noting that racism is like a cancer. It is destructive, aggressive and spoils peoples lives. It results in second rate education and reduces a persons chances of decent employment. Fortuantely, unlike body cancer, the treatment for racism is hard but its not painful - your hair doesnt fall out, bits of your body dont need to be cut off and you dont feel and look like crap during the treatment.

So to quote Rethabile once again - .

It’s hard, yet humans need to see other humans as just that: humans — and not as colour or as belonging to a group. People will always be outwardly different, which unfortunately puts other-feature humans in their vicinity on guard. With practice, this habit could go away, white ladies could stop switching their purse to the other side when approaching a black man.

Campaign for Zimbabwean Women’s Dignity
Back in March I pointed to a report in Sokwanele on the Zimbabwean government reaching the limits of absurdity by insisting that donated sanitary towels be quality tested before exempting them from import duty.

ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) are coordinating a campaign supported by Sokwanele to highlight the health issues related to the lack of accessable sanitary towels and tampons in the country.

This isn’t simply a story about shortages of yet another type of product. Shortages of sanitary ware go to the heart of women’s rights: it’s an issue which raises questions of whether a woman is forced to stay away from work or school; whether she is putting her health at risk by picking up infections or, if she is HIV positive, whether those infections will literally shorten her life span. In short, a lack of affordable hygienic sanitary products translates directly into issues of women’s rights as well as women’s dignity.

Please support the campaign and help spread the word.

At the World Economic Forum in Davros this year Nestle - "Good food good life"  recieved 29% of the vote for the "world’s least responsible company" twice as much as the next on the list Monsanto.  Nestle’s irresponsbility dates back as far as the 1960s and 1970s to which the company admits to malpractice

Today Nestlé admits to malpractice in the 1960s and 1970s, though it hasn’t apologised to the families who lost infants during this period or offered any form of compensation.

The company has a new report on Africa "The Nestle Committment to Africa" in which it outlines its historical link with the continent (it first sold condensed milk in South Africa in the 1880s) and I am sure most Africans are familiar with Nido and Carnation milk products and of course the "I can’t cook without MAGGI" which has been around ever since my childhood.  However according to IBAN (International Baby Food Action Network) Nestle is still violating the international code in its aggressive marketing of baby foods. 

The aim of the International Code is to contribute to the safe and adequate nutrition for infants by the protection of breastfeeding. If the International Code were to achieve this aim, commercial baby milks and foods would be sold only to those who really need them. Endeavours by companies to circumvent the provisions of the International Code and to interpret
the International Code narrowly are therefore common.

For example in its pamphlet promoting Pelagron Infant Formula, Nestle claims that it counteracts diarrhoea and its side effects. 

"this is highly misleading as with all formulas, infants fed on Pelargon are at greater risk of becomming ill and possibly dying as a result of diarrhoea than breastfed infants."

Other violations include advertising for mothers and mothers to be to attend baby feeding seminars in local supermarkets.  Direct contact with mothers of children under 3 is phrobited by the International Code.  The difference between the International Code and Nestle’s own code can be seen on the BabyMilkAction website.  Nestle has also entered the HIV/AIDS market by promoting the use of its special infant formula for use by mothers with HIV.
This is playing on the fears of a very vulnerable group of women who are afraid for their babies and want to do what is best for them. The choice to breastfeed or bottlefeed in the case of hiv is even more complex and a decision that needs to be made by the mother with the advice of impartial health workers, not by a multinational with a vested interest.

Nestlé set up a Nutrition Institute with the expressed goal of promoting infant formula for use in cases of HIV infection. The Institute is offering training courses, gifts, lunches and promises of academic credits for health workers. It has irresponsibly promoted its Pelargon infant formula used in HIV interventions in many African countries (see Botswana example on page 2) and alongside other companies has argued against advertising restrictions in South Africa, claiming advertising provides information. Advertising is a sales tactic and not an educational tool and UNICEF has stated that HIV makes marketing regulations more important not less important.

WHOs Global Strategy for infant feeding states that risks of "HIV transmission have to be weighed against risks of sickness and death from artifical feeding and breast feeding is recommended inunsafe conditions".

For more on the Nestle campaign see Baby Milk Action and Internatonal Baby Food Action Network.

Tags:
Nestle
African Women
Baby Food

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a short piece on my experience with breast cancer (since renamed "One breast beats being dead").  Now I read that breast cancer is on the rise in South Africa especially amongst young black women (under 35).  However the worst thing is that the survival rates are very poor because this group of women do not seek medical help until it is too late.   As many as 60 - 80% of women at one clinic arrive when the cancer has reached an advanced stage and is terminal. 

Some stats quoted in the article.

Something I did not know is that worldwide there has been a 21% increase in BC over the past 15 years.

In SA more women die from BC than any other cancer including cervical cancer which used to be the number 1 killer.

The five year survival rate for black women is 64% as opposed to 80% for white women in SA - quite a huge difference.

The provision of mammograms in the public health sector is poor so black women are less likely to have access to screening or breast exams given by professionals.  Self-examination is not satisfactory on its own as a tumor may not be a lump but possibly a mass of tissue spread over quite a large area of the breast.  Unless you are trained professionally you may not pick that up - as I didn’t.

For me the two questions are why is there a rise in cases of BC amongst
black SA women? For this I have no answer but I think it is a very
important question;  and why are black women seeking help too late?
It is only when BC has reached the terminal stage that a woman becomes
aware that she is ill.   BC does not come with any symptoms or illness
(other than if you feel a lump) which is probably why so many black
women are not coming forward in time for appropriate treatment to be a
success.  So unless preventive measures are taken eg BC awareness
campaigns, self-examination training, access to mammograms then black
women will continue to die unnecessarily from BC.

Tags:  Breast Cancer   African Women South Africa

Journalists Against AIDS is an excellent informative website on AIDS in Nigeria West Africa.  The aim of JAA is to: 

is to contribute to the prevention, care and control of HIV/AIDS in
Nigeria by providing innovative communication interventions that will
facilitate positive behavior change to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

It provides news on HIV/AIDS, regional and national statistics and  resource materials including an active forum. 

The HIV/AIDS status in Nigeria today is estimated as follows:

The population of Nigeria is estimated at 120 million people.

People living with HIV are expected to pay N1000 per month for anti retroviral treatment (ART) from the government’s ART programme which is part of President Bush’s Programme for AIDS relief.  This cost is in addition to lab tests, medication for other illnesses and transport to and from the health centers.    JAA estimates these costs at a prohibitative N42,000 per annum or N100 per day. 

"These costs are far beyond what many of the thousands of people living
with HIV in Nigeria, who are on ARVs, can afford. According to latest
World Bank figures, about 66 percent of Nigeria’s population live below
the poverty line of 1US dollar (N133) per day.

It is total foolishness and criminal that the world’s poorest people have to bear such a huge cost for ART and associated expenses relative to their income,  whilst for people in the West all costs are free.  In addition to carrying the financial burden (many people loose their jobs once there status is known), there is the enormous psycological burden from your community and of course having the disease itself.    The solution for people living with HIV/AIDS is to sell their property, belongings, bodies, beg or simply stop taking the ART. 

People living with HIV/AIDS have petitioned President Obasanjo and his government to drop the patient contribution.

"Based on what we live through in our own lives and what we witness
every day in the healthcare programs we run, we therefore strongly urge
you to graciously drop the patient contribution. We ask you to make
antiretroviral therapy including laboratory tests and the treatment of
opportunistic infections completely free in the Nigerian public
healthcare sector. "We ask you to contribute to the fulfilment of the
Nigerian people’s Human Right to health by making HAART freely
accessible to all those who need it. The Nigerian public, especially
thousands of people living with HIV, whose lives depend on the success
of the treatment programmes, count on your goodwill."

Tags: Nigeria    HIV/AIDS  West AFrica Anti Retroviral Treatment