A cancer time bomb for Zim men

15 Jan, 2017 - 00:01 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Sam Mandivheyi

The majority of males above 35 years in Zimbabwe seldom seek health checks. In most cases they seek attention only when critically ill. The culture is dangerous when it comes to problems associated with the prostate.Research shows that men above 35 years are at risk of prostate cancer. It then becomes imperative to adopt measures that minimize the risks linked to the prostate.

The relationship between diet and prostate cancer is linked to consumption of the Western diet. High calcium intake has been linked to advanced prostate cancer. Consuming fish may lower prostate cancer deaths, but does not appear to affect its occurrence. Some evidence supports lower rates of the condition with a vegetarian diet.

Foods and diets rich in lycopene which is found in cooked tomatoes and other red fruit, selenium which is found in Brazil nuts, cruciferous vegetables, soy, beans and other legumes; may be associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.

The cancer is rated the second most common cancer and sixth leading cause of cancer deaths among men globally with over 1.1 million cases and 300, 000 deaths estimated in 2012.

In the United States, prostate cancer more commonly affects black men than white or Hispanic men and is also more deadly in black men.

According to the Urology Care Foundation, prostate cancer is the second most cause of all cancer-related deaths among men and about one in seven men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.

Approximately one in 35 men will die from it whence most of these deaths occur among older men. Prostate cancer affected 18 percent of American men and caused death in 3 percent. In Nigeria, 2 percent of men develop prostate cancer and 64 percent of them die within two years

According to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, African men suffer disproportionately from prostate cancer, compared to men from other parts of the world.

The 2013 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) study reported an increase in deaths from 5 600 in 1990 to 12 300 in 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

A report compiled by the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry (ZNCR) showing the latest 2012 statistics for prostate cancer incidences and mortality reported the continued dominance of prostate cancer as the most frequently occurring cancer in Zimbabwean men with the incidence rate having increased by 3 percent from 15, 4 percent in 2011 to 18, 1 percent.

The mortality rate from the latest reports was at 9 percent.

Prostate cancer trends from 2005 to 2012 showed an increase from 237 in 2005 to 454 in 2012 nationwide.

The age distribution of men with prostate cancer was from 40 to 65 with over 350 cases of men above 65 recorded.

According to a Ministry of Health and Child Care National Cancer Prevention and Control Strategy for Zimbabwe 2014-2018 report, currently, over 5 000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in Zimbabwe annually.

Experience has shown that it is just the tip of the iceberg as many cancers are not captured by the routine National Health Information System because the patients do not present themselves for treatment or some deaths are not registered.

Of those who do report, the majority are already at an advanced stage of the disease, due to limited access to screening services.

While I support medical interventions towards dealing with various health complications, I also subscribe to herbal approaches.

I have conducted scientific research on Makoni-Zumbani tea with the School of Pharmacy at the University of Zimbabwe. The research also took into consideration earlier studies on the tea. Because of our local discoveries, Professors from Pakistan, India and Brazil have taken a keen interest in this herbal tea.

Our research revealed that the tea helps regularize women’s menstrual cycles, it detoxifies blood and kills fibroids and might make barren women conceive.

The tea is anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant and anti-microbial. According to the research, we found out that the tea has four to five times more zinc than that found in popular tea.

Zinc is metal that fights prostate cancer and prostate enlargement disorders.

It is a result of the ability of zinc to fight prostate cancer, that I am now conducting further research on the diseases and how the herbs can help or complement medical drugs to bring relief to most men.

The signs and symptoms of prostate enlargements technically known as benign prostate hyperplasia, inflammation of the prostate are varied.

Some of the signs and symptoms include pain in the back, pelvis or increased urination at night (nocturia) and blood in the urine (hematuria).

Any changes within the prostate gland is associated with urinal dysfunction and thereby also causing problems with sexual performance and difficulties in achieving an erection and or painful ejaculation.

It is debatable that we are witnessing an increase in problems within a relationship. While most people choose to blanket the problems with words such as domestic violence or marital problems, the truth is that most couples are failing to satisfy each other in bed.

One of the reasons could be men who are having prostate challenges, but are not aware of their situation. The missing element in these men is zinc which is critical for male sexuality and fertility. It is also needed by the liver for alcohol metabolism.

Sam Mandivheyi is a holder of a Life Intermediary Certificate with The Insurance Institute of Zimbabwe, a Certificate in Traditional Medicine from the University of Zimbabwe’s School of Pharmacy, a member of the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council and is studying towards a Degree in Religious Knowledge at the Greater Grace Bible College.

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