(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Fazeena Saleem
|
The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) aims to boost cancer awareness in the country, emphasising the vital role of public engagement campaigns in the fight against the disease.
As part of its newly launched Strategic Plan for 2025-2028, QCS is prioritising increasing cancer awareness across the country, with an initial goal of raising overall awareness to over 70%.
A key component of this initiative is the launch of public engagement campaigns designed to educate the community about cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment options. The QCS emphasises that increasing awareness is crucial in the fight against cancer, as it empowers individuals to take proactive steps for their health and supports early intervention, ultimately saving lives.
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The 2020 National Cancer Registry report shows that 2024 new cancer cases were recorded in Qatar. Breast cancer was the most common, making up 16.1% of the cases, followed by colorectal cancer at 9% and thyroid cancer at 8.2%. While Qatar's cancer rates are lower than in neighboring countries, lifestyle factors like obesity, smoking, and lack of exercise, along with genetic and environmental influences, still pose challenges.
Projections suggest that cancer rates could increase to 26.24 cases per 100,000 people in 2025, and 33.55 per 100,000 by 2030. This highlights the urgent need for greater efforts in cancer awareness, prevention, and early detection.
A 2022 survey in Qatar found that many people have misconceptions about cancer. Some believe cancer can be cured (88.2%), that it's very painful (82.2%), that chemotherapy makes people very sick (73%), and that the word“cancer” scares people (70%). Others think cancer is almost always fatal (62.2%), that some treatments are worse than the disease (62.1%).
And that a cancer patient can become normal after treatment (57.3%). On the positive side, most people (72.4%) disagreed with the idea that cancer is a punishment from God. More than half also disagreed with the beliefs that a person with cancer in their family won't be fit for marriage (68.5%), that cancer always needs surgery (56.6%), or that some types of cancer are contagious (54%).
The QCS's Strategic Plan for 2025-2028 aligns with national and sectoral frameworks to strengthen cancer prevention, early detection. It also aims at increasing support, empower and advocate for people living with and beyond cancer; and professional development and research in the field of cancer.
The Plan also aims at increasing community awareness about the activities and services of QCS to more than 60%. It also aims to increase beneficiary satisfaction to 90 %. Over the years, QCS has supported more than 9,362 individuals with cancer care from 45 nationalities, contributing a total of over QR 101.85 million.
QCS aims to achieve its goals through the continuous improvement of services, the development of creative and innovative practices in activities and services, and the enhancement of collaboration with partners and supporters. This will help in delivering services effectively and promoting them through various platforms.
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