Guest Blog: A developing problem

Becksta here first: heading back to school has taken over so no time to post anything this week. Alas, my wonderful hubby has some very important things on his mind that he'd like to share in this medium that we like to call the "blog world." Quick update on my end though- I did accomplish No. 21 this month:

"Take notes on JR's (or Kenny's) sermons for a whole month"

I definitely paid more attention as a result. There were some amazing sermons this month as JR and Kenny explored the book of Colossians with us, and I wish I had a moment to hash out some of things that were taught. Maybe someday... as for now, please take a moment to read Steve's post.

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I always figured that my first foray into blogging as a guest post here would either be something artistic - like sharing some picture I took, or some attempt at being creative - like writing from the perspective of our cat. For those of you who actually would look forward to something like that: Don't worry! I'll keep shooting, and "A day in the life of Parker the BratCat" will eventually appear here. I have something a bit more pressing on my mind for this post.

I'm sure most of you recognize that cancer is a serious issue here in the western world. It's also no secret that Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, is struggling to combat HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. What may come as a bit of a surprise is this: in 2002, 7.6 million people worldwide died as a result of cancer. HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis claimed the lives of 5.6 million people combined. I was floored when I first came across those numbers.

Those numbers don't only represent the western world: it's estimated that there will be approximately 16 million new cancer cases annually by 2020, with 8.8 million (over half!) of them coming from the developing world. How bad is the problem in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance? Consider this:

-African women with cancer have double the risk of dying from that cancer as women of the western world.

-2.7 million years of life are lost worldwide due to cervical cancer each year. 2.4 million of those years are from developing areas (that's almost 90%) , with the western world losing 300,000 years. Cervical cancer accounts for 25.4% of female cancers in Africa.

-The incidence of Karposi's sarcoma (a type of cancer found in the skin, mouth, gut, or other locations) has increased by approx. 20 times since the onset of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Africa.

-As of 2006, Sierra Leone, a country of roughly 2.55 million women, had no mammogram facilities in the entire country. Breast cancer accounts for 19% of female cancers in Africa.

-The most common male cancer in Africa is liver cancer. The predominant form is caused by the hepatitis B virus, and exacerbated by a toxin that is spread across the African continent. A vaccine exists for HBV (and costs ~$0.30 per dose), yet fewer than 7% of people receive the vaccine. The toxin can be detected and avoided, yet isn't.

As members of the western world, we can do something. As Christians, we're called to do something.

The obvious questions are "what" and "how?" That will require ingenuity, sacrifice, and service on our part. For my part, I'm looking into what I can do from over here in the U.S., and if I find something, I'll post an update here. Fortunately, we're not alone in trying to do something. For more information (and until I post again . . .), click on: Africa-Oxford Cancer Consortium.

steve