Will Re- introduction of “Moonshot” Helps to Fight Cancer?

Obama Resolves to Fight Cancer!

We recently got the news of Celine Dion’s husband who died after a long fight with cancer. Many more people are dying everyday . Cancer is becoming a rampant killer everywhere; if only we can put a figure to the number of Nigerians that died as a result of cancer I am sure we will be at par or close to America’s data of over 500,000  death yearly. The American Cancer Society estimates that 1.69 million Americans will be diagnosed of cancer in 2016 and 596,000 Americans will die of cancer in 2016. ‘This means that one in three American women and one in two American men will be diagnosed of cancer in 2016!.’ It is a disease that affects virtually every body. We all have friends or relatives who have faced cancer diagnoses’ says CNN


My stake on this is that the more awareness on cancers of all types, the closer we get to control this dreaded disease.

Thus Obama should be applauded with the new resolution of ‘ moon shot’ because it shows his forth sightedness on the issue. Moon shot policy had worked in combating and reducing HIV/AIDS and thus Obama believes is high time another huge finance channeled towards cancer disease. CNN pointed out that ‘ NASA administrator served this function in the original moonshots many years ago. ‘The administrator’s job was to determine how money could best and most efficiently be spent. The federal government has had an AIDS czar for more than two decades. The command-and-control approach has been very effective in reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.’

Cancer Moon Shot of President Obama is led by Vice President Joe Biden, (who recently lost his son to brain cancer) and aim to start tackling cancer from various angles.

What is the ‘moon’ made of?

This is not a fight that will end in a year or two or 10 or 50 years but what is important is the kick off, the resolution and the commitment on the part of the US government to fight Cancer disease. By this cancer can be more controllable just like diabetes’s or HIV, says CNN doctor and scientist. Patients can still live a normal and prolonged life in good health all things being equal. ‘In just the past few years, numerous molecular targets important in malignancy have been discovered and many drugs developed to affect those targets. Today, chemotherapy can cure many leukemias, lymphomas and testes cancers’ says Dr Brawley Otis. The Cancer Moon proposal focuses on new treatments but there is need for more research, prevention by screening and dissemination of new findings, he maintains

‘Finally, we should not underestimate the effectiveness of cancer prevention. The U.S. has had a 23% decrease in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates since 1990, and research has shown us that the leading reason for the decline is prevention activities. Improvements in treatment and improvements in screening are also important in the decline but to a lesser extent.

Screening and early detection, combined with appropriate therapy, clearly lower the risk of death from breast, lung, colon and cervix cancer. Good scientific studies show that screening and appropriate intervention actually prevent development of some colon and cervix cancers. Science has also told us the major causes of cancer. This has helped us prevent some cancer and realize that about 40% of cancers are preventable’ he said.

If this proposal is achieved US would have saved a lot of soon to be diagnosed patients, and those presently living with cancer can be hopeful.

Source

CNN