CANSA: Hollard DareDevil Run 2018

#DaredevilRun2018

Your Options for Participation are Limited to ONE

A 5km Run with a Difference that Makes a Difference

The Hollard DareDevil Run has grown from one brave soul daring to jog through peak hour traffic in a Speedo, to a massive countrywide phenomenon with a noble cause.

The only way to beat cancer is to raise awareness through initiatives like the Hollard DareDevil Run. Because early detection saves lives.

So check your jewels, pull on that purple DareDevil Speedo and let’s run cancer outta town. After all “It’s the one time in the year where you can run almost naked and not get arrested.” Sounds like a fair trade-off in the fight against cancer. #DaredevilRun2018 literally saves lives.

#WozaBozza

Says Thulani Sibisi, 2 Oceans Marathon winner and prostate cancer survivor: “I knew the word ‘cancer’. But I didn’t know what it was about. Now, I know’ – see why Thulani believes initiatives like DareDevil are vital in raising awareness about male cancers:

VIDEO INTERVIEW Thulani Sibisi:

Thulani Sibisi

So sign up at www.daredevilrun.com, join us on Friday, 16 March in #Johannesburg, #CapeTown, #Durban, #Bloemfontein and#Mbombela – let’s run cancer out of town! #WozaBozza

#WozaBozza

CANSA MANVan

Make some noise for the CANSA MANVan, sponsored by Hollard! This is your roving mobile clinic, bozza – an unstoppable force that’s driven to fight male cancers by providing PSA tests to men age 40+

The CANSA MANVan, sponsored by Hollard, is coming to your area soon. Be on the lookout for our MANVan and get free health checks, cancer screening and awareness materials to help you lower your cancer risk. The MANVan is shared between all regions that participate in the #DaredevilRun2018.

CANSA ManVan

Screening Offered:

  • Blood pressure
  • Blood sugar level
  • BMI and a body composition analysis
  • Skin scanner analysis – FotoFinder skin screening ( on request)
  • ** Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) fingerpick tests for males older then 40 – to help detect prostate abnormalities
  • Health awareness sessions offering advice on improving health and providing information on the early signs and symptoms of various cancers

** PSA is a protein produced by both cancerous (malignant) and non-cancerous (benign) prostate tissue. High PSA levels may indicate inflammation of the prostate or even cancer. A blood test or finger prick test can establish if PSA levels are raised.

Your options for participation are limited to ONE:

Run cancer out of town

Who will you run for?

#DaredevilDedication – Hollard calls on all Daredevils to dedicate their run to someone they know or love who has been affected by cancer. Runners can share their dedications on signboards, or even write them on themselves, seeing as there will be so much skin on show!

Who will you run for?

CANSA: Newsletter March 2018

Available for download:

Balance your Lifestyle Today for a Lower Cancer Risk Tomorrow

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), says leading a balanced lifestyle (http://www.cansa.org.za/adopt-a-balanced-lifestyle/) can help lower the cancer risk and agrees with the World Cancer Research Fund –  people can reduce their cancer risk in one third of cancer cases, by simply combining a wholesome eating programme, maintaining a healthy body weight and remaining physically active.

According to Elize Joubert, CANSA CEO, “Being overweight or obese is linked to a higher risk of several cancers. Many people in South Africa are overweight, including children and teens. In fact, we have the highest occurrence of obesity in sub-Saharan Africa, with 42% women and 13% men carrying this label, while 7% of boys and 9.6% girls present as obese. So our message is to eat smart to lessen the cancer risk.” *

CANSA recommends the following smart nutrition tips:

  • Have less high sugar content food and beverages on an ongoing basis.
  • Eat little, if any, processed meat such as ham and bacon and eat no more than 500g (cooked weight) red meat (beef, pork, lamb) per week.  Instead, consume other protein sources such as fish, poultry or beans.
  • On a daily basis eat a minimum of 2.5 cups of vegetables and fruit.  These are complex foods that contain beneficial vitamins, minerals, fibre, carotenoids, and other bioactive substances, that may help avert cancer.
  • Choose whole grains instead of refined grain products.
  • Eat less salt and limit salt intake to below 6g (2.4g sodium) a day.
CANSA Balanced Lifestyle

Combined with eating smart, CANSA further endorses limiting inactive behaviours such as sitting, lying down, watching television, or other forms of screen-based entertainment, and rather get physically active to help maintain a healthy body weight. Instead of using the escalator or lifts, climb the stairs; whenever possible walk or bike to your destination; exercise at lunch with your co-workers, family or friends; take an exercise break at work to stretch or take a quick walk; walk to visit co-workers instead of sending an email; go dancing with your spouse or friends; go for walks in your neighbourhood or form a walking group.

“Join our CANSA Active programme (http://cansa-active.org.za/) to learn about leading a balanced lifestyle, playing sport safely in the sun as well as being cancer-aware by encouraging smart choices regarding diet and lifestyle. It also gives the opportunity for sports people to participate in their favourite sporting activity or race, while raising funds online to support CANSA’s care and support  (http://www.cansa.org.za/cansas-care-support/)to those affected by cancer, ” adds Joubert.

Visit www.cansa.org.za or www.cansa-active.org.za, or contact the nearest CANSA Care Centre, call CANSA toll-free 0800 22 66 22 or email: [email protected].  CANSA offers multi-lingual support on WhatsApp: 0721979305 for English and Afrikaans and 0718673530 for Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho and Siswati.  Follow CANSA on Twitter: @CANSA(http://www.twitter.com/CANSA), join CANSA on Facebook: CANSA The Cancer Association of South Africa and follow CANSA on Instagram: @cancerassociationofsouthafrica

* Ng M, Fleming T, Robinson M, Thomson B, Graetz N, Margono C, Mullany EC, Biryukov S, Abbafati C, Abera SF, Abraham JP. Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. The Lancet. 2014 Sep 5;384(9945):766-81

 

A Start -10 Draft Cancer Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs) + plus 1 added

PMBs are a vital tool used by medical schemes because they explain the minimum services for which your medical scheme will pay. These are the “benefits” of belonging to a private medical scheme. As beneficiaries, we must know about these rather than the number of free movies!

The PMBs have been a bone of contention for over a decade because they are outdated and don’t reflect current practice and care. Usually to the user’s detriment. The custodian of PMBs is the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS). Remember, PMBs are just as important for public sector care as this is the process that will be used to start the NHI care benefits.

NCDs categories at last

A recently published draft PMB benefit classification refocuses on health services. The change, from long-criticised disease /condition related benefit packages to one based on services, is welcomed. Look at the draft, it and give your comments. These are your health care benefits which serve as a minimum package that must be available in different settings from a primary care setting to hospitals.

More work is needed to further expand the categories to include the setting in which the service must be accessed:

The classification includes NCDs and communicable diseases in one category. This is probably meant to reflect that the chronic and comorbid nature of the conditions: The SA NCDA hopes it heralds integrated health care. These are the elements of NCDs care:

  • Screening and assessment of risk factors and co-morbidities
  • Initiation of early treatment
  • Screening and management of complications
  • Follow up and monitoring of treatment adherence
  • Interpretation of common laboratory and radiological results
  • Specialised geriatric care, including foot care
  • Referral to a higher level of care when required.

PMB cancer definition starts

The  PMB Benefit Definition Project (started in 2010) must clarify the benefits to which medical scheme users are entitled in terms of the Medical Schemes Act (131 of 1998). Sadly, these guidelines lack a legal status.

The project is a CMS-led process that uses criteria to define the prevention and treatment for a specific condition. There are lots and lots of conditions to get through. Cervical cancer, a major problem, has yet to be published.
A CMS-appointed Clinical Advisory Committee (one per medical discipline) with members drawn from medical and health professions, funders (medical schemes) and patient groups. However, the mechanism of patient group involvement is neither clear nor transparent. Patient groups need to be vigilant on this matter as the CMS does not have a clean record of including patients or “users” in a meaningful way.

Eleven  PMB draft definitions released in the last year all relate to cancer. Medical scheme users should comment to make it relevant. There is no time limit for comments stated in the drafts but another newsletter version shows it to be about 3 weeks from release date. However, you are encouraged to comment no matter the timeline as these are your benefits and make sure that they meet your needs.

Draft PMB definition guideline title with links Date released
1.     Non-small cell lung cancer 26 Feb 2018
2.     Medical nutrition therapy in palliative care (adults) 12 Feb 2018
3.     Small cell lung cancer 1 Feb 2018
4.     Mesothelioma 25 Jan 2018
5.     Hepatocellular carcinoma 6 Dec 2017
6.     Early stage colon and rectal cancer 2nd edition 4 Sept 2017
7.     Metastatic colon and rectal cancer 2nd edition 4 Sept 2017
8.     Early stage pancreatic cancer 2nd Edition 31 Mar 2017
9.     Early stage oesophageal cancer 2nd edition 31 Mar 2017
10.  Best supportive care for 4 cancers 2nd edition 31 Mar 2017
11.  Early stage gastric/ gastro-oesophageal junction cancer 2nd edition 31 Mar 2017

CMS Script on oesophageal cancer

Shavathon 2018 – CANSA