Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that a more detailed study needs to be done before it could be concluded that major cancers have a higher prevalence among African Guyanese than other ethnic groups.

The minister was responding to an article published in this newspaper two Sundays ago, citing a recent study that had suggested this was so and was in sync with another study done 17 years ago.

However, Dr Ramsammy said that the study does not correspond with figures he has at his ministry, adding that more needs to be done before any conclusive statement can be made.

“Maybe it is indeed so, but a more detailed study needs to be done and not just taking the figures provided to the cancer registry and drawing conclusion,” he told Stabroek News.

He also said it was irresponsible of those who authored the study, which was titled ‘Common cancers of the Afro-Guyanese population: A silent issue for too long’. Its findings were presented at a  conference in the US. It was authored by Tumour Registrar Penelope Layne, Premini Persaud, both of the Guyana Cancer Registry, and Univer-sity of Guyana lecturer and head of the cancer group Periwinkle, Dr Wallis Best Plummer. The authors did promise to do a more detailed study which they feel would support their original findings.

The study stated that it is believed that some of the contributing factors to the cancers being prevalent among African Guyanese were a genetic predisposition, socio-economic influences including low income status, and promiscuity. It stated that with the exception of breast cancer, the highest percentage of all other cases involving major cancers were among Afro-Guyanese. However, the report qualified this by observing that if the number of breast cancers among East Indians and Africans were adjusted according to their relative proportion in the national population, breast cancer would also be more prevalent among Afro-Guyanese women.

The high prevalence of the various cancers among the African segment of the Guyanese population was not unexpected as a pilot of cancer care in Guyana in the early 1990s had previously found a 54% prevalence among this group, the study reported.

According to Dr Ramsammy using information provided by the registry can lead to “speculative reporting” since even though the registry has useful information, reporting cancer is voluntary and not mandatory.
He said at a recent press conference that since the publication of the article many persons have been inquiring about cancer being a mainly Afro-Guyanese problem.
“We have no such evidence and I think that when people speak loosely they can create major problems,” he said, pointing out that the evidence at his ministry does not support any linkage between cancer as a whole or any type of the disease to a specific ethnic group.

“We have no such evidence in Guyana. I want to make that quite clear,” he stressed, adding that the information from the Cancer Registry is very useful but cannot be used to make any conclusions because it is voluntary at this time  and cannot be utilized for research from which conclusions can be made.
He further stated that there is no law to force anyone to register and the same applies to health institutes which may have had cases.

New public
health laws
He acknowledged, however, that new public health laws being drafted will make cancer a reportable disease, pointing out that is the policy direction the government is following.
“This therefore means that someone cannot use the data in the Cancer Registry to make any kind of scientific conclusion,” Dr. Ramsammy stated, adding that when such a study is done it may be found that one ethnic group suffers from a particular type of cancer.

Meanwhile, he underscored the severity of the disease which represents a major cause of mortality in the country. For males it is the third cause of death and in females it is the fourth. The top three cancers are prostate, breast and then cervical.

According to  Ramsammy, over the years the ministry has expanded its cancer awareness programme but there is room for improvement. He stressed the need for continuous spreading of awareness of the disease and what can be done to prevent it.

While conceding that the ministry will have to work harder to control the disease, he pointed out that communities and Non– Governmental Organisations (NGOs) also have a role to play.

He called on all to come on board to spread the message about cancer. The minister also urged persons to take advantage of the available programmes and to examine themselves once they have passed a certain age.