World Cancer Day today! - 4 February 2010

The World Health Organisation is observing World Cancer Day today.

February 04 2010 : The world is observing World Cancer Day today. World Health Organisation(WHO) each year on 4 February supports International Union Against Cancer (UICC) to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer.

Cancer is the leading cause of death around the world. And to prevent such deaths WHO has developed a series of six modules.

These modules provides practical advice for programme managers and policy-makers on how to advocate, plan and implement effective cancer control programmes,

In 2005, 7.6 million people died of cancer. More than 70% of those deaths occured in low and middle income countries.

WHO estimates that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without intervention.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is observing World Cancer Day today. The WHO observes February 4 each year as World Cancer Day to spread awareness among people.

With the help of International Union Against Cancer (UICC), the WHO tries to aware people how the disease could be tackle and cured.

According to the survey, the 70 percent deaths occurred due to Cancer every year globally.

The motive behind to celebrate World Cancer Day is to plan the strategy against cancer and how it could be controlled.

The WHO also invites suggestions to prevent such death especially in undeveloped and developing countries. Preventing cancer and better life for cancer patient is the key aim of World Cancer Day 2010.

The WHO has been observing the day with a theme 'Cancer can be prevented too'.

World cancer day: Cancer can be prevented

Word and the Mass, one way is to take extra effort to do so. You must listen, reflect on the readings, and apply God’s message in your own Cancer Day.

The observance was initiated by the International Union Against Cancer in 2005 in response to the Charter of Paris in 2000. World Cancer Day was first observed on February 4, 2006.

Cancer was derived from the species crab of the Latin text which means the “unseen hidden underground enemy.” It causes abnormal and uncontrolled multiplication of cells which does not show any pain at its earliest stage.

Although the causes of cancer are unknown, there are behaviors which increase the risk of cancer. Some of them are lack of exercise, being overweight or obese, improper eating habits, exposure to carcinogens, radiation, certain viruses like the papilloma virus, and smoking or alcohol addiction. The early signs of cancer include lesions that prolong to heal, lumps, consistent indigestion, abnormal bleeding and chronic hoarseness.

Cancer is the leading cause of death all over the world without intervention.

Between 2005 and 2015, the World Health Organization estimated that 84 million people will die due to cancer. So it is important that the public are educated on ways to detect symptoms of cancer and to know the proper screening techniques in order to prevent cancer.

This year’s theme, “Cancer can be prevented too,” emphasizes simple measures to prevent cancer such as following a healthy diet and regular exercise, limiting intake of alcohol, avoiding tobacco use, and protecting oneself against cancer-causing infections.


It also stressed that healthy lifestyle is one of the keys in winning over this life-threatening disease.

Let us join the world in observing World Cancer Day. Let us also hope that the observance of World Cancer Day encourages policy makers all over the world to make cancer a political priority and brings new life to cancer survivors.

Bomb Blast in Lower Dir - Pakistan News

Pakistan blast kills 3 US soldiers and 4 foreign journalists.

February 04 2010 : Three US soldiers have become the first known American military fatalities in Pakistan as they died in a bomb near a school in the north-west.

Three schoolgirls were among the dead while 70 people, including another 63 schoolgirls and two US soldiers, were injured in the explosion in Lower Dir.

The US embassy said the military personnel had been training Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency.

Both governments deny large numbers of US troops are in Pakistan.

The US embassy in Islamabad confirmed in a statement three American military personnel were killed and two wounded in what it branded a "vicious terrorist bombing".

The statement also said the Americans had been due to attend the inauguration of a girls' school recently renovated with US humanitarian assistance.

Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to AFP news agency.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC that the US personnel were attached to the Frontier Corps as military trainers.

Pakistan's Frontier Corps is a paramilitary force responsible for operations against militants in the volatile north-west, near the Afghan border.

The US soldiers were said to have been travelling in a convoy, along with Pakistani troops, that was heading to the inauguration of a newly built girls' school in Maidan, an area of Lower Dir district in the North West Frontier Province.

The bomb - which police said was activated by remote control - occurred near a different school in Koto, a heavily populated village along the route.

The impact flattened much of the Koto Girls' High School, leaving pupils crying for help under the rubble.

At least three of the dead were schoolgirls, police said, adding that security guards and three local journalists were also among the wounded.

News that three US soldiers were killed will be highly embarrassing for the Pakistani government, which is acutely aware of the unpopularity of its close ties to Washington.

Critics accuse Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of turning a blind eye to repeated American drone attacks in the north-west, which have killed more than 600 people during the past year, our correspondent says.

The US has argued in the past that its soldiers are in Pakistan to provide security for US citizens, he adds.

Last year, the Pakistani army carried out a major offensive to drive Taliban insurgents out of Lower Dir and the neighbouring districts of Swat and Buner.

But the Taliban are still present in remote areas and the latest attack shows that the militants remain a powerful force in the region, says the BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also condemned the attack and ordered an investigation, the AFP news agency reports.

The Taliban has frequently targeted girls' schools in recent years, burning several to the ground. Many are now being rebuilt.

MSF Teams Treat Wounded After Explosion in Lower Dir.

Following the explosion in Lower Dir district, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, on Wednesday, February 3, Ministry of Health and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams working in the emergency room in Timurgara district hospital received 126 wounded people, including children.

“Most of the wounded have shrapnel related injuries all over their bodies, on the face, abdomen and feet,” explained Dr.Ashraf Alam, medical officer for MSF in Timurgara. “We received 12 people in severe life threatening condition. Five of them have already undergone immediate surgery. It was a heavy blast and quite close to a school where children were going out for break time,” adds Dr. Alam.

In Lower Dir, MSF supports the district referral hospital in Timurgara. Some 1,100 patients are treated each week at the hospital’s emergency room, both by Ministry of Health and MSF medical teams, who take care of the patients most at risk and support the management of mass casualty response. MSF has set up a new operating theater, a post operating unit and put in place a sterilization and waste management system for the hospital.