Sue Janse van Rensburg, the chief executive officer of the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), is proud of South Africa's effort in the worldwide battle against cancer, particularly its fight against smoking. She spoke with allAfrica.com while attending the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit in Dublin, Ireland.
What were your impressions of the summit and specifically how it might be able to help Africa in the cancer battle?
The fact that there were 64 countries [represented] by around 500 people tells me that people are interested in talking and collaborating so that's a good thing. It's good to see that the same types of problems that we've got in Africa are seen in other countries as well, in economically emerging countries, and it's good to realize that we can take hands and help each other in small ways and means to be successful.
In what ways might you be able to help each other following the summit?
From our side I've just confirmed that what we are doing is the right thing. For instance, we don't talk about cancer anymore. We talk about men's health; we talk about women's health. We look at a message of hope and how you can prevent cancer, and realize that although you have cancer you can live with dignity.
So I'm glad to go back and tell people that the way we're doing it is the right way to do it and we will go forward and just converse and communicate with others. We've also met a few of our other partners in South Africa here and we were able to formalize that relationship more.
Tell us about some of CANSA's accomplishments and programs.
I came as more as observer. One of our volunteers has a [cancer] coping kit, which she wanted to take global, which I thought was wonderful. I'm here to assist her, to see what we can do. This coping kit has made such a difference in the lives of many survivors in our country so we hope that we will be able to spread the word to other countries. We have had quite a few people, especially from developing countries, who are interested in our coping kit.
We have just launched in June for the first time in our country a men's health campaign, which has never been done. We're taking that forward, working with others, so we can bring the message to all males that they must do something about their own health. And we are urging our women folk to assist that.
We also have our new women's health initiative, which we are going to launch in September. We are looking at women's cancers and our big emphasis will be on women's health. Cervical cancer is a bigger problem in our country than people ever realized.
What is a Cancer Coping Kit?
It's made by two volunteers [and includes] the very basic stuff [on cancer] in layman's terms, and questions asked, which they put down on paper and on a CD.
Do you think the toll of cancer in South Africa has been somewhat overlooked because of the attention paid to other diseases, such as HIV/Aids and tuberculosis?
We are very much aware of the fact that in our country HIV/Aids is a horrific problem and we also realize that a lot of attention has been given to it. I understand that but we are there to make people realize and to make our own government realize that they mustn't forget about cancer.
The cancer association is very fortunate that we've been awarded the tender to update our country's National Cancer Control Program (NCCP).
In the next month we will be finalizing the NCCP for our own department of health, which will then take it forward in collaboration and partnership and in a consultative forum for the rest of the stakeholders.
One of our biggest issues is that we haven't got a national registry that's up to date. Cancer will become a registered disease in the next six months. It will help us to look at the stats and to know how big our problem in South Africa is because we haven't got enough data.
To what extent do you see South Africa as a leader in the fight against cancer, especially tobacco control?
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We are really very grateful in our country. We are very proud of the fact that our laws are actually more stringent and more up to date than in many other countries in the world, even Western countries. In May our law was actually extended to include certain rules about children not being in the company of people smoking. But we also realize that there are other actions we can take which we will be addressing in the next year or so.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We've only been in this game for about three or four years. We see Relay for Life as our signature fundraising project that will make us sustainable. It's focused on mobilizing and engaging our volunteers and getting people involved on the grassroots level to take up this fight, and they can do it by taking hands. We want to triple our relays within the next three years. We are so grateful to our partners and we want to say thank you for giving that opportunity.
