Smoking is a problem of the modern world producing yearly more victims than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car accidents, murders, suicide temptations, fires, etc. being one of the first death cause that might be prevented.
Smoking is a risk factor for many types of cancer: larynx cancer, oropharynx cancer, tongue cancer, lung cancer, esophagus cancer, gastric cancer, bladder cancer, skin cancer and also cardio-vascular disease and pregnancy complications.
Tobacco addiction is a chronicle state that requires several interventions and today there are some efficient treatments that help in getting a long term or even permanent abstinence.
Statistically cancer represents the second cause of death all over the world as well as in our country after the cardio-vascular diseases. The lung cancer is the most common neoplasm caused by smoking being the first cause of death by cancer in the world (17% of men’s neoplasm and 12%of women’s). If the incidence of lung neoplasm has dropped with 4.4% for men and has increased with 6.2% for women in USA, where, in the last 20 years, the number of the survivors has increased with 14%. In spite of the unfavorable statistic data, the last success in the molecular diagnosis techniques (used in curing of the preclinical stage of the disease) in improving the therapeutically possibilities are giving a hope for a better forecasting. In Romania we can notice the same trend as all over the world emphasising the smocking within the young people and even the teenagers.
Due to ignorance and lack of sanitary education in our country, the diagnosis is achieved on an advanced stage, when the treatment is often palliative and extremely expensive for society and for individual as well.
The establishment of an aggressive campaign against smoking addressed to all of the population but especially to children, frequently launched, would represent a first step in this program against smoking.
The screening realized through an active program proved to be more efficient than the spontaneous one especially where the sanitary education is poor. Only an organized program can be correctly evaluated, regarding the efficiency of discovering and connected to the report cost-benefit. In addition, an active program allows different approaches by age groups, the risk degree and the results of the first tests.
That is why we consider that the initiation of a program regarding control, prevention of smoking and broncho pulmonary diseases caused by smoking must be addressed to everyone.
The goals of the program:
- The decreasing of the incidence of treatments’ costs and of death by cancer
- The instruction from an oncological point of view of the physicians with others specialties
- The treatment of the patients ill of broncho pulmonary disease such as chronicle bronchitis, lung emphysema, the obstructive chronicle bronchopneumopathy and of those with cardiovascular diseases caused by smoking.
- Socio-professional reintegration of the patients after ceasing the treatment
- The involvement of the oncological institutes and medically university centers.
- The Fund-Raising activities to support this program
The project description:
- The decreasing of the incidence, of treatments’ costs and of death by cancer The project should cover all the age categories. Preventing cancer caused by smoking mainly depends on the success of the sanitary education based on fighting against smocking, responsible for 85% of the death by lung cancer and for the good identification of the individuals with high risks of the best methodology of screening and precocious discovery, in order to reduce mortality and treatments’ costs on short term.Through the Program “Smoking and Cancer”, the League wants to impress the apparently healthy population, regarding the connection between smoking and cancer. The global incidence of lung cancer increases with 5% yearly together with the increasing of number of cigarettes consumed by younger and teenagers( 13-14 years)and of great number of heavy smokers.Creating the informative materials about: risk factor for cancer and methods for early detection of cancer in general and broncho pulmonary cancer too:
- Leaflets for each location in which the main risk factors of cancer and of broncho pulmonary cancer and the ways through which these can be removed, are presented; having some signs and symptoms which require immediate medical consult;
- Posters which must lead the population to specialized centers where they can get useful information which shall be split within schools, universities, hospitals and other public places
- Video tapes and short movies which illustrates the noxious effects caused by the components of the cigarettes smoking upon the broncho pulmonary tissue and the cardio vascular system, the signs and the evolution of the disease for the correctly and incorrectly treated cases, the video tapes should be seen within meetings, roundtables discussions and the short advising film will be presented in cinemas and on TV as adds;
- Activities carried out together with teachers
- Practical guidings made for everyone expressing in writting by simple meanings what exactly is to give up to this bad smoking habit, which will be spread on a large scale.
- Thematically articles published in national newspapers
- The distribution of this materials to the population
- Through mail, invitations for different meetings, informative materials and invitations to medical consult
- At book exhibitions
- Within fashionable meetings
- By getting a greater number if volunteers
- The organization of roundtable discussions
- We will contact schools, local administrative authorities, managers of the enterprises in order to organize some meetings. These will have the purpose to show the subjects presented in the advertising materials.
- The cooptation of public institutions based on protocols to support the program: city halls, police departments, education departments, hospitals, The Ministry of National Defense, fire departments.
- The instruction from an oncological point of view of the physicians with others specialties
- Organization of conferences, symposiums, roundtables, eventually within the specialized companies in which will be shown news about preventing, early detecting and treatment of oncological diseases and there will be Romanian and worldwide specialists.
- Sharing of experience between oncologists connected to the strategies of preventing and early detection of cancers caused by smocking;
- Specialization courses of the family physicians for the improvement of the preventing and early detection activities, taking into account that they are the first visited by the people;
- The elaboration and distribution of an oncological education magazine that will contain performances obtained gained by the League with its programs and information meant to attract physicians in the prevention and early detection of cancer. We will distribute the magazine to the population, to family physicians, to the specialists, to the Romanian Physicians College.
- The treatment of the patients with broncho pulmonary diseases such as chronicle bronchitis, lung emphysema, the obstructive chronicle bronchopneumopathy and of those with cardiovascular diseases caused by smoking.
- It is achieved through the co-operation of family’s physicians with cardiologists and pneumologists beginning with the private clinic of the family physicians and those from diagnosis and treatment centers continuing with the specific treatment in the specialized medical centers.
- It is necessary to explain as clear as possible to the ill people the risks of keeping smoking which will continuously affect their healts and the good effect by just quitting smoking has on their clinical state. These actions require an implicit participation of psychologists. They will assist individually or in groups the patients discovered in the first stages of lung cancer and will direct them towards to the university oncological centers where there are the oncological commissions of therapeutically indications. These commissions will use oncologist surgeon, a medical oncologist, a radiotherapist. Throughout these commissions, the post-treatment followed-up by the patient will be achieved.
- Socio-professional reintegration of the patients after ceasing the treatment
- creating a group of support for the cancer survivors in which they will benefit or offer conciliation regarding their specific problems;
- cooptation of the group’s members in the League’s activities about preventing and early detection of cancer;
- solutions for the reintegration of the patients into normality from a familial and socio professional point of view (financial help for the cases with a low economical status);
- The involvement of the oncological institutes and medically university centers
- The National Program of Cancer (which includes a chapter about the control and the prevention of tobacco consume) performed with the oncological institutes from Bucharest, Cluj and other university centers all over the country can stimulate their implication in the Program “Smoking and cancer”The introduction of the program about prevention and fighting against lung cancer in the National Program of fighting against CancerThe centers of early prevention from the oncological institutes, the university centers with pilot centers will map the population who must be includeed in the screening programs and will make the investigations and examinations to detect the possible neoplasm caused by smoking.In this university centers will be created committees for the accreditation of screening unities which will periodically compare the results and quality of different centers; the committees will recommend administrative and legislative measures about the control, prevention of smoking and early prevention
- The fund collecting for supporting this program
- The organization of cultural actions with the purpose of material support of the program;
- The contact of organizations or international foundations with similar activity for the collaboration;
- The cooptation of economical factors for financial support;
- The presentation of the program to the authorities for the request of funds;
- The realization of a presentation map which describes the activity of Romanian League for Cancer in the Program “Smoking and Cancer”, the results obtained until now and the forthcoming projects.