IN an effort to provide service and support in the fight against cancer, the Guyana Cancer Society, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) promoting prevention, early detection, and treatment, was officially launched, on Saturday, at MovieTowne Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.

The organisation’s founder and President, Sharir Chan, noted that, while the government has been putting systems in place to cater to the growing needs of cancer patients locally, the vision is to create a supporting NGO to supplement the services being provided by the Ministry of Health.

“We will, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, work towards increasing VIA screenings. We need to work with the health centres… we will intensify our efforts in education, both in the schools and health centres, so that persons can arm themselves with the tools necessary to prevent cancer,” he said.

According to Chan, the NGO will also provide a network to share information as well as inspiration to persons undergoing treatment and to those who have survived.

The NGO will be run by a ten-member executive board inclusive of Chan; Dr. Meer Khan; Dr. Mark Reddi; Dr. Navindranaught Rambaran; Dr. Jason Ramcharran; Dr. Surujpaul Singh; Dr. Desiree Ross; Sharon Rodrigues- Alguram; Asif Owal; and Sasha Hatim.

He stated that although the NGO will be stationed in Region Four, outreaches have been planned to provide screening and cancer education across the country.

According to Chan, statistics from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicate that Guyana is one of the countries with the highest order of non-communicable diseases in the Americas.

When it comes to the cancer death rate in Guyana, Chan said the country is estimated to have a 97 per 100,000 rate. He said it was with that in mind that the NGO was formed as a way to beat the disease and protect the lives of men and women living with cancer locally.

“Guyana has a population of 282,685 women 50 years and older and they are all at risk of developing cervical cancer. Every year, 121 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 63 died from this disease. This is the second most frequent cause of cancer in Guyana after breast cancer.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, lauded the vision of the NGO, noting that the fight against cancer locally can only be won with collaboration and joint resources. He noted that the government intends, in the next two months to roll out its Human Papillomavirus Virus (HPV) vaccine programme, in an effort to minimize cervical cancer.

“If you have any other non-governmental organisation, any other group that is interested in helping us, we want you to come on board. So, one of the things that we’ve been doing…is to get a number of stakeholders together, and discuss the strategy of how we roll out the HPV vaccines.”

He noted that another major undertaking by the ministry will be the treatment of every person with Hepatitis C in 2022.

“Because of the cost, we were unable to treat people who had HEP C but we are currently working on a programme which is going to start this year. So, for every person who was diagnosed with HEP C, we are going to start by treating them this year, and not just treating them, we are planning to cure and get the treatment that we have so that vaccine would not be required.”

Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Hepatitis C is spread through contact with blood from an infected person.