Heeding the alarm bells

Nisreen Qatamish, the director general of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), has sounded the alarm yet again about the runaway rates of cancer in Jordan. On Tuesday, she told the country that cancer rates in Jordan are still increasing at a time when around 40 per cent of all types of cancer are preventable. 

Citing the National Cancer Registry affiliated with the Health Ministry,  Qatamish said that 36 per cent of cancer patients in the Kingdom are under the age of 50.

The public’s indifference towards the advice of physicians is a major national concern. The repeated warnings about cancer and prevention went unheeded.

Therefore, Qatamish is advising Jordanians to improve their lifestyle by adopting healthier habits, including eating healthy food, refraining from smoking, second-hand smoking and avoiding junk food. Banquets in Jordan are simply the antithesis of a healthy lifestyle.

KHCF also noted that Jordanians of all ages, by and large, are overweight due to lack of physical exercise and unhealthy eating habits. 

True, genetic factors also contribute to growing cancer rates but a lot can be prevented by embracing a healthy living.

The high economic cost of cancer treatment runs into hundreds of millions of dinars, not to mention the human suffering.

As long as cancer rates keep increasing, it would remain a national crisis. Enough is enough is the message of Qatamish and we better listen before the problem becomes even more devastating.