Reasons To Hope

It’s public enemy number one and responsible for almost a third of all deaths in this country – so when will we finally see the back of cancer?

- Cath Bennett

When Bill Clinton stated, “It’s now conceivable that our children’s children will know the term ‘cancer’ only as a constellation of stars,” there was hope we might finally defeat New Zealand’s biggest killer.

Yet almost two decades after the former US president made that statement, many of those grandchildren are well acquainted with the disease which affects one in three Kiwis and is diagnosed in 23,000 of us annually.

The breakthroughs in understanding DNA that prompted Clinton’s optimism may have got us a little closer to defeating humankind’s greatest enemy, but the war between the human race and cancer is still very much raging.

With a new decade fast approaching, no one is suggesting victory is imminent, indeed Dr Chris Jackson, medical director of the Cancer Society, candidly says, “I don’t think we’ll see the back of cancer in my lifetime”; yet there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Experts agree there has never been such a dynamic time in cancer research, with constant breakthroughs around both the understanding of causes and the creation of treatments. And right now, the future is looking rosy – not least for Kiwis.

Ann Richardson, a professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Canterbury, points out that while the number of people being diagnosed with cancer is growing – due to our ageing and increasing population – each person’s individual risk of getting it is falling.

“When you consider the age standardised incidence of cancer overall, it is dropping in New Zealand, and so is mortality,” she explains. “So if you’re looking at trends over time, the picture is good news.”