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NOVEMBER, 2018 | THE HEALTH
15
Bringing WCC to Malaysia
Dr Saunthari
Somasudaram says lots
more to be done
C
HAIR of the 2018 World
Cancer Congress (WCC)
Host Committee and the
National Cancer Society
Malaysia president Dr
Saunthari Somasunda-
ram recently expounded
that there is still so much more that
needs to be done in Malaysia.
“The National Cancer Society has
been around for a long time - from
doing clinical work to the idea of
making an impact and a difference, it
wasn’t just the treatment of cancers,
but actually to raise the awareness. So
people had to understand that cancer
was something which did not have to
limit your life and certainly not a death
sentence, and that meant that we had
to show that people were surviving
from cancer.”
Dr Saunthari Somasundaram
recently expounded that there is
still so much more that needs to
be done in Malaysia.
“For people to survive from cancer,
you have to find them early. And we
didn’t have the infrastructure in place
to achieve this. So, by the time patients
were going into hospitals and being
diagnosed, they were stage 3 or stage
4. So, your chances of living from that
in a good life is very low. So, when we
looked at all this in 2006 – we really
started building up the whole idea, of
survivorship.”
“During the same time, we started
attending international congresses
for Union for International Cancer
Control (UICC). This congress is
patients centric –where there were
doctors, researches and everybody
had an equal voice and was certainly
an eye opener.”
“Prior to this, we were all working
together in our own little silo saying
that we were doing a wonderful job,
the hospitals say that they were treat-
ing patients but we weren’t together.
We weren’t looking at it as a full
journey. So, when we returned, we
realised that so much need to be done
and that we can’t do it as individual
people and organisations but to do it
collectively – the government working
with external non-government and
working within governments because
cancer goes beyond a disease.”
“Apart from providing
care, emotional
support, stress
management, they
also have a shared
responsibility for
medical decisions.
In addition to
this, they extend
instrumental support
– such as cooking and
transportation which
towards the end takes
a toll on the time
they have to manage
their own wellness,
health and health
behaviours.”
— Dr Richard C. Wender
Recognising
the role of caregivers
in cancer care
I
N an online survey conducted
in 2017, there were 3,516 unpaid
carers between the age of 18 to 75
in Australia, France, Germany, Italy,
Spain, United Kingdom and the United
States.
The survey carried out by the
International Carer Survey Findings
showed that 47 per cent of unpaid
caregivers have feelings of depression,
almost three in 10 unpaid caregivers
feel their role as a caregiver is unrec-
ognised by their healthcare system,
55 per cent of unpaid caregivers feel
that their physical health has suffered
while 30 per cent of unpaid caregiv-
ers feel that their role as a caregiver
has put pressure on their financial
situation.
Speaking at ‘Mobilizing Oncology
Carers Globally: Unique Challenges
Facing Women’ at the World Cancer
Congress’ – a sponsored forum by
MERCK, American Cancer Society
(ACS) Chief Cancer Control Officer
Dr Richard C. Wender emphasised
(From left to right) Ricardo Blum,
FEMAMA and UICC Board Member Dr
Maira Caleffi, Merck Biopharma Taiwan
general manager BoonHuey Ee, Richard
Wender, M.D., American Cancer Society
and Malaysian Oncology Society of
Malaysia president Dr Matin Mellor
Abdullah.
that these are the results from the role
caregivers play in caring for cancer
patients.
“Apart from providing care, emo-
tional support, stress management,
they also have a shared responsibility
for medical decisions. In addition to
this, they extend instrumental support
– such as cooking and transportation
which towards the end takes a toll on
the time they have to manage their
own wellness, health and health
behaviours.”
He then shared the ACS Caregiver
Resource Guide available at cancer.
org/caregiverguide – that contains
information on caregiver self-care as
well as other resources that a caregiver
may need.
MERCK Brazil Medical Director
Dr Ricardo Blum, then shared the
initiatives carried out in Brazil; aptly
called as ‘Embracing Carers’ which
was developed to highlight the unmet
needs of unpaid carers on a global and
country level.
Among the initiatives carried out
by stakeholders is to support capac-
ity building and collaboration or
organisations to support caregiver
initiatives, driving policy, legislative
action and visibility among policy
makers, governments and interna-
tional public health organisations,
increasing awareness by having
global discussion on carers through
activating and highlighting the unmet
needs of carers through media and
digital platforms as well as to create
innovative opportunities to integrate
caregivers support and resources
throughout the spectrum of care.