Important discussion around cancer
SANDRINGHAM – A special meeting enabled a discussion about the collection and use of cancer data and registries as a source of help to medical professionals.
The National Cancer Registry alongside NGO Campaigning for Cancer hosted a special town hall meeting.
The meeting held on 5 September, brought multiple stakeholders together at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases to discuss and share avenues in making the collection and use of cancer data and registries a source of help to medical professionals.
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CEO of Campaigning for Cancer Lauren Pretorius said, “For us as a cancer advocacy group, updated cancer statistics and data collections are crucial so that we can measure our efforts and be able to identify areas that still need more attention.”
The discussions were led by the National Cancer Registry, a surveillance unit which collects and analyses data with regards to annual cancer rates. Deputy director-general at the National Department of Health Dr Yogan Pillay discussed the role of cancer registries.
Pillay said that registries will be helpful in creating strategic battling of cancer through various campaigns and policies. He added that with South Africa’s various social disparities, the use of registries which give accurate personal data could assist in knowing the influence on those disparities on various cancers throughout the country.
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Head of the National Cancer Registry Dr Elvira Singh spoke on the current landscape of the cancer registries in South Africa and the importance of accurate reporting on the registries, which she believed should be done with the help of all stakeholders. She said that South Africa currently has pathology and laboratory-based registries, but urged to push for population-based registries which monitor trends in cancer incidences reported.
She added that the National Cancer Registry’s future goals include speeding up the country’s current pathology-based registries and to establish population-based registries in KwaZulu-Natal and Ekurhuleni.
Details: Campaigning for Cancer www.costofcancer.co.za
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