United, we can all beat Cancer

There is a question that I get asked a lot by both patients and relatives. Everyone wants to know what causes cancer? It makes sense because one way or the other, cancer affects all of us. We all want to know want causes it so that we all avoid having it in the end. In the world of medicine, there are communicable and non communicable diseases. Communicable means diseases you can pass to the person sitting right next to you. Fortunately cancer is a disease that you cannot pass to the person sitting right next to you. Which means it is a non-communicable disease. Studies have been done to try to find out what really causes cancer. All of them have not really found a specific cause for cancer. But they found out what could increase the chances of getting a cancer. We all group them as “risk factors”. A risk factor is not a cause but it increases the probability of having any form of cancer. Risk factors include: Cigarrette smoking; Obesity; Family History of cancer; Immunocompromised state (HIV, Diabetes etc); Advancing age and Gender. It is therefore important to take note of the above. I came up with a simple lifestyle algorithm to try to counter the risk factors of having any forms of cancer. It’s simple as ABCDE. A: Alcohol - Reduce alcohol consumption especially strong beverages (especially 43 percenters) B: Body Mass Idex; Here I am talking about weight loss. C: Cigarrette smoking. Quit smoking or any contact with cigarrette smoke, this has been found to be among the strongest risk factor associated with having any form of cancer. D: Diet. I am not a nutritionist but we always advise a balanced diet to everyone. Meals with all essential nutrients. E: Exercise. I know that our exercise tolerance is not the same. To me exercise means exerting your body to break a sweat. It can be walking 100 meters or running 10km. All is just exercise. I commend the cycling campaign that took place on Saturday. It shows that Batswana are health cautious. For example, when I compare the time I moved to Gaborone 10 years ago and now, I see a big difference. Nowadays I see a lot of people either in the morning or evening on the roadside walk-jogging. It shows that Batswana are more health conscious as compared to before. My advice to everyone is, let’s all stand together and beat cancer. I do believe that we can. Let’s all take responsibility to fight cancer. HASHTAG: I AM AND I WILL. Dr Bonolo Mhaladi is from Oncology department at Princess Marina Hospital