The month of October is used in many countries to increase awareness of breast cancer, but it is also a good time to increase awareness of other cancers as well especially common cancers that affect many Anguillians, these other common cancers include prostate cancer, cervical cancer.

Chances are that everyone reading this article will be affected by breast, cervical, bowel or prostate cancer or knows someone who is affected by one of these cancers. Despite the many advances in the treatment of cancer there are many challenges and many individuals are still presenting at late stages in the disease where cure rates are not very good.
Early screening tests
A few cancers have screening test that allow for detection of pre cancerous conditions and very early stages of cancer. Cervical cancer is a good example of a cancer that has screening tests that allow for early detection of pre cervical cancer lesions that if detected and treated can prevent the development of cervical cancer.
Screening tests are available for early detection of breast, uterine, colon and prostate cancers.
Regular medical examinations by your doctor must be done in conjunction with screening tests to detect early stages of cancer. Many cancers in their early stages do not have any warning signs or symptoms and therefore individuals are encouraged to see their doctor at regular intervals even if they do not have any signs or symptoms of a particular illness.

What can you do to decrease your risk of getting cancer?
In many cases cancer is unpredictable but you can do a lot to decrease your risks. Increasing your education about cancer is very important in the fight against cancer. You can learn about your risks about individual cancers and this knowledge can prove beneficial. While cancer is still a taboo topic in Anguilla, knowing that your mother died from breast cancer is very important for you and your doctor to know. If your father and brother had prostate cancer then your risk of getting prostate cancer is markedly increase. You should make every effort to be acquainted with the past medical history of your family members included those who have died. I know this might be difficult in some cases.

Risk factors for cancer
In many cancers there are risk factors that may indicate and increase risk of you getting a particular cancer. A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease. Having a risk factor does not mean that a person will get the disease. Many individuals still develop a cancer in the absence of known risk factors. There are many factors that determine whether you will develop cancer or not some of these are environmental, others are biological while some are genetic in origin.
In the case of breast cancer, black women are less likely to get breast cancer compared to white women, but are more likely to die from the disease if they do get it. Black women get the disease at younger ages then white women do. Biological factors may account for these discrepancies, but social factors and access to care may also contribute as well.
Black men are at an increase risk of developing prostate cancer compared to white men and black men have a higher chance of dying from the disease than white men.

Things you can do to decrease your risk of breast cancer
Every woman is at risk of developing breast cancer. If a woman lives to the age of 90 years she has a 12% risk of developing breast cancer, put another way this woman has an 88% chance that she would not get breast cancer. This woman can decrease her risk even further by doing the following:
• Eating a healthy diet
• Losing extra weight
• Regular exercise
• Quit smoking
• Consuming no more than one alcoholic beverage a day
Things you can do to decrease your risk of prostate cancer
Knowledge of your family history of prostate cancer is very important. Men with a father or brother with prostate cancer are twice as likely to get the disease. You can decrease your risk by decreasing consumption of saturated fat and red meat. Various nutrients can decrease your risk of developing prostate cancer by increasing consumption of foods like soy, tomatoes, carrots, fish, green tea and using some key vitamins.
Men are reluctant to go to their doctor. Many fear having to do a digital rectal examination, but this simple test can make a difference between you being alive and well or dying early from prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is very common in men over the age of 65 years, but if caught early there is and almost 100% survival rate.

Risk factors for cervical cancer
There are many risk factors for cervical cancer, but the most important is having Human papillomavirus infection especially with high risk types HPV 16, 18, 31, 33 and 45. Other risk factors include sex at early age and smoking. Many individuals however develop cervical cancer in the absence of any known risk factor.

Conclusion
Increase awareness about cancers can make a difference. Increase knowledge about cancers in general can prove beneficial to everyone. Cancer is still a topic that many individuals in Anguilla prefer not to talk about.
During the month of October everyone is being encouraged to at least try to increase their knowledge about some aspect of cancer and look at ways of decreasing their risks of cancers in general. Having screening tests when indicated, regular medical check ups and adopting healthy lifestyles can all help in the fight against cancer.

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