Published 27 October 2021
Basseterre
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Source: LOOP NEWS St. Lucia
Noting that more people die from cancer when compared to COVID-19, President and Founder of Faces of Cancer, Miss Dorothy Philip believes cancer should be considered a pandemic.
“It’s true COVID is killing people, but cancer kills over 270 people in Saint Lucia alone every year,” Miss Phillip declared.
The Faces of Cancer President notes cancer has been around long before COVID, yet it continues to be ignored.
“Many more people are dying of cancer and nobody seems to be making an issue of a big deal out of it,” she laments.
Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide.
In 2018, there were 18.1 million new cases and 9.5 million cancer-related deaths worldwide.
By 2040, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 29.5 million and the number of cancer-related deaths to 16.4 million.
“I would like people to assist when it comes to cancer. When we had the pandemic we saw business places pledging big amounts of money, but what are we doing for cancer which is killing more people not just in Saint Lucia but globally, so yes, cancer should be declared a pandemic,” Miss Phillip said.
She made the statement to the media Tuesday as she noted some of the activities which took place earlier this month in observing Breast Cancer Awareness Month throughout October.
The events, like many others, have been overshadowed by the pandemic.
Despite this, she says the month of October has been busy for the organization who had to make several radio appearances both in Saint Lucia and overseas.
Several activities were also held virtually, including a tea party and discussions regarding ‘The Big C’.
Faces of Cancer will be in Castries this coming Saturday where members of the public will have the opportunity to meet with cancer survivors and will be able to ask questions and their experiences.
“We are hoping as well since the curfew has been relaxed, we want to continue with our health fairs and we want to do at least once a month because we realized that cancer, there has not been much going on in terms of screening and attending to cancer, so we want to pick up the slack and do at least once a month,” Phillip stated.
