Cancer and the international challenge

I came across an interesting article the other day, entitled “It Is Time to Include Cancer and Other Noncommunicable Diseases in the Millennium Development Goals.”

In it, the authors — leaders of groups such as the American Cancer Society, the International Union Against Cancer and the International Center for Cancer Treatment and Research — argued that “a silent pandemic of cancer and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has been spreading throughout low- and middle-income countries and now threatens to overwhelm health systems and undermine social structures.” They called for the reduction of NCDs to be included in the United Nations’ landmark Millennium Development Goals.

To illustrate the point, they noted, “A young life preserved by an intervention against malaria or tuberculosis only to be lost later to cancer or diabetes is all too often preventable and always tragic.” I thought of this recently when I spent a few minutes talking with a candidate for our oncology fellowship program who plans to double-board in oncology and infectious diseases. A former med/peds resident, he had spent a few years with the Baylor Pediatrics AIDS initiative in Tanzania where he saw firsthand the huge need for oncologic drugs and expertise in that region, and where he recognized his life’s calling. Clearly, there is a need, and there are talented individuals who are recognizing the need and trying to see what can be done. But will developed countries commit the resources necessary?