�ome��s�Health
“ We need gender parity so that women can bring their lived experiences , and the only way you can do that is when you have equal power in leadership positions .”
Raising awareness about colorectal cancer risk in women should be a priority .
“ In low- and middle-income countries in Asia , having budgets to address cancer has only been under discussion maybe in the last five years ,” said Dr Nirmala , mostly due to misconceptions among policymakers who had for a long time believed there was nothing that could be done against cancer .
And when health authorities started to put the disease on the map , they often turned to breast and cervical malignancies as the main ones to target in women , thus overshadowing other equally deadly malignant conditions . Although breast and cervical cancers were the first and fourth most common malignancies worldwide among women in 2022 , according to the latest data from the WHO ’ s International Agency for Research on Cancer , lung and colorectal cancers ranked second and third . And the same ranking held true for cancer mortality .
“ Advocacy for breast and cervical cancers has been very good , but it also counterintuitively dimmed the focus on lung and colorectal ” malignancies , explained �r Nirmala . In Asia , in particular , “ even educated women may not believe they are at risk of lung and colorectal cancers , and in fact research shows that these are often missed in women . When women have symptoms , they are less likely to be investigated because the traditional thinking is that men are more likely to have lung and colorectal cancers .”
She added that , for example , many governments have offered free screening for cervical and breast cancers in the form of human papillomavirus ( HPV ) testing and mammograms , but they ’ re rarely provided faecal testing , the most widespread type of screening for colorectal cancer . Lung cancer screening programmes are similarly rare and mostly available in high-income countries , but this is also due to the fact that “ the test traditionally required expensive machines and trained lab technicians .”
This lack of attention from health authorities and poor awareness about the risks of lung and colorectal cancers mean that women are often diagnosed later than men , making treatment more difficult .
The good news is that “ a lot of governments are picking up ” in colorectal and lung cancers screening , according to �r Nirmala . “ Lung cancer used to be more expensive to screen , but now there are lots of efforts to bring in chest �-ray assisted by artificial intelligence ( AI ) in LMICs .”
Gender-specific measures The commission recommends several gender-specific actions to tackle the challenges faced by women with cancer to ensure their lived experiences are taken into account to build a more equitable health system .
The first step is to improve cancer prevention in women .
This can be done by helping women reduce their exposure to established cancer risk factors like smoking and household air pollution . Although there are more male smokers worldwide , women are more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoking , says the commission . Hence , establishing smoke-free environments will benefit women in particular as well as other non-smokers . �educing exposure to household air pollution will also contribute to cancer prevention , especially among Asian and African women , since this form of pollution from burning coal and wood for cooking is believed to be driving up female lung cancer incidence in China , other countries in Asia , and Africa .
Cancer prevention in women also requires researching , monitoring and acting “ on emerging cancer risk that disproportionately affect girls and women , including occupational and environmental factors ,” says the commission .
The goal is strongly related to another objective set by the commission — “ ensure equitable access to cancer research resources , leadership , and funding opportunities for women ,” with the target of “ at least half of all senior editors and members of editorial boards of oncology journals ” being women by 2030 . The increase in female leadership positions should facilitate research into emerging risk factors that mostly plague women .
“ We need gender parity so that women can bring their lived experiences , and the only way you can do that is when you have equal power in leadership positions ,” explained �r Nirmala .
It ’ s also paramount to boost screening and early cancer detection among women as this will help
42 ISSUE 2 | 2024 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com