To lay a solid foundation for cancer prevention and management in the Cayman Islands, we first need to understand what cancer trends look like in our population. The Cayman Islands Cancer Registry has been created for this purpose. Until cancer becomes a reportable disease, the cancer registry is asking cancer survivors to share their anonymized information and in order to have a more comprehensive data set, it would like to see more male survivors registering.
Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows the global age standardized cancer incidence rate is almost 25 per cent higher in men than in women, with rates of 205 and 165 per 100,000 persons, respectively. The estimated cancer mortality rate among men, which is 15 per cent higher in more developed than in less developed regions, is also higher than that of women.
Cancer Registrar Amanda Nicholson said despite the increase in registration since the start of 2017, the rate of voluntary registration by men remains low.
“Though November has ended, we want to continue the awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate and testicular cancer, two of the most common types of cancers among men. In addition, we want to promote the important role male survivors can play in the development of effective cancer programmes by helping us to gain more insight into how cancer is affecting the male population in our country,” said Ms Nicholson.
“To reduce the significant disability, suffering and deaths caused by cancer, effective and affordable programmes in early diagnosis, screening, high-quality treatment and palliative care need to be implemented,” the WHO stated. “However, the barriers that delay cancer diagnosis must first be identified and assessed, and these factors may originate from patients to carers to health systems.”
Dr Troy Gatcliffe, Oncologist, Miami Cancer Institute at Baptist Health South Florida, reinforced the need to support the Cancer Registry in his presentation at the Cayman Islands National Healthcare Conference in October. “To better understand what’s going on in the Cayman Islands from a cancer perspective we must register our anonymous information with the Cancer Registry. At present, the breakdown of cancers identified can only be based on the 351 locally reported cases,” he said.
To register to the Cayman Islands Cancer Registry, cancer survivors may contact Ms Nicholson at 244-2560 or Amanda.nicholson@hsa.ky. Registering is fast, easy and only takes a couple of minutes. It can be done face to face or via e-mail.
