UPDATE - Issue 24 - Winter 2005
Women and Children First
Breast cancer deaths are in decline. Childhood leukemia is a far less frightening diagnosis than it used to be. But the prostate lags behind. It is time for men to be afforded the same treatment as women and children.
It is not just charities like ours saying this. There is now unanimity across the political spectrum that the prostate and prostate cancer in particular deserves a higher profile.
In the first ever audio day motion in the House of Commons at the beginning of November, Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy recorded messages, quotes from which you can read beneath their pictures. The initiative for this unprecedented step came from the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, a grouping of some 22 charities of which the Prostate Research Campaign UK is a founder member. A clearer demonstration of the power which can be released when charities co-operate and work together towards a common end it would be hard to find.
Seven years ago the amount spent by the Government on breast cancer research was 88 times that spent on prostate cancer research, a fact we reported in a very early edition of Update. Thanks to our efforts and those of other charities in the field the gap has narrowed. Recent figures show that some £36.8 million is spent on breast cancer against £9.7 million on prostate cancer. Part of that £9.7 million comes from Government sources (£4.2 million) and the rest from charities.
'comparable resources should be devoted to diseases with similar impact'
Every year about 41,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer while 30,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer. The numbers of deaths from these diseases are also comparable - 12,500 women die from breast cancer while 10,000 men die from prostate cancer. One would think that comparable resources should be devoted to diseases with similar impact. Regrettably, that is still not the case.
As well as the disparity in research funding, similar differences can be found on the treatment and patient care side. For example, there are 264 Macmillan nurses concentrating on breast cancer patients and just 64 on prostate cancer.
The cancer remains a 'taboo subject', with low awareness and understanding. It is important that action is taken to put this right. |
Levels of public understanding of prostate cancer are not as high as they should be, and too many men still don't get the best treatment. |
Sufferers receive a worse deal than those with comparable diseases. Patients receive inferior treatment, an inequality that has been getting worse since the turn of the century. |
||
On top of that there is the issue of screening. There is a well developed screening programme for women that costs some £72 million per year to run. To date, successive Governments have resisted a screening programme for men based on the PSA blood test arguing that current evidence does not justify such a scheme.
To assess the impact that screening and a wide scale male awareness campaign might have, a localised awareness campaign is to be launched in one Primary Care Trust area at a cost of just £150,000, of which the signatories to the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action are to pay a third. We shall keep you informed of how this significant albeit small study progresses.