AIDS vs. Cancer

vs.

This article would surprise a lot of you again I would think, but don’t most of my articles do so? It’s been on my mind for quite a while, and I always felt I needed to write about it, simply because, I couldn’t hold back the reasoning within me.
Firstly, for all those reading this, please note that I am no medical practitioner, neither am I here to discuss the medical consequences of AIDS over Cancer or vice versa. Let me also make it clear, that I have no intentions of maligning / harming any organization, image or person who were/are contributing towards the fight against any of the above mentioned 2 diseases.
For all those who’ve known me well, will also know, why I’m writing this article today. I’m doing so because I feel it relevant enough to talk about the awareness levels of these 2 diseases amongst the youth of this country today. I’ve also begun to genuinely indulge myself in this subject nowadays and it wont be too long, before which I decide to stand up and help the millions fighting against the subject in question.
I was just about completing 21 years on planet Earth when this word was thrown before me, almost forcing me to embrace it and take it into my stride. Not one to deter, I did the most defaulted thing there was to do – embrace it, albeit with loads of apprehensions. Back then; I had no idea what Cancer was all about. Truly, my knowledge of the subject was Zilch! Don’t know, If I was so naïve not to know about it, or was society at large ignorant of this word and its consequences, which in turn led to my downfall. And herein, lies my question:

Why is the youth of today so much more aware of AIDS and its consequences as compared to CANCER, or for that matter of fact, any other deadly disease there is?

But, I’m going to talk about Cancer in particular, because, I don’t see it as any less deadlier than AIDS today.
I might be totally wrong in putting up this question itself, but as I’ve observed and lived everyday of my life, continuously interacting with a number of people of my age in the process, I’ve come to believe in this very question itself, and my strife to find the reasoning behind it is also taking unimaginable proportions by the day.
Yesterday, I was watching a cricket match on ESPN. Ceremoniously, at the end of the over, they broke off into a commercial break. On came, Virender Sehwag speaking in his highly developed and very new English language, trying to spread the message that he of course has everything now, but what about the millions suffering from AIDS, especially children. Another one that stands out was the commercial I saw at PVR the other night, where this lady gives statistical figures of the number of women affected by AIDS today, simply because, their husbands didn’t believe in the concept of condoms. A few standouts amongst the many sincere calls made by celebrities/ the common man alike, across the world to join hands in the fight against AIDS. I truly appreciate these efforts. I also truly commend The World Health Organization (WHO) and other health organizations / Governments / NGO’s etc who are working day and night in their effort to support AIDS victims as well as spread the awareness of AIDS. I also do believe like most of us do, that they have achieved at least 30% of their motive today, going by the encouraging results (albeit small) right in front of us, that too in an progressively developing country like India.
But I just wonder, somewhere down the lane, have we neglected other and equally important diseases, such as Cancer.
How else would you explain the fact, that 4 out of 6 people I asked had no idea what ‘Chemotherapy’ was all about, but they did know, the various means through which AIDS could be spread? How else would you explain the fact, that the same percentage of people actually said that ‘Cancer is a curable disease and has been medically proven’, when posed with the inevitable question? How else would you explain the fact, that many people I asked didn’t have much idea of how Cancer was caused, or the general foundation for Cancer cells to grow, whereas, they not only knew the full form of the acronym AIDS but also knew the necessary precaution to be taken to avoid being on the receiving end of it? A small number you might say. A number that does not truly reflect the medical knowledge of Indian citizens you might say. A number that needs to be much larger and must be able to cut through diverse barriers of culture; if we were to draw such conclusions, you might say. But all said and done, I didn’t do it as part of some national survey. I did it on a random basis just to see if it enhances my belief even more, and you bet, it did – That Cancer is after all not as popular amongst the Indian public as compared to AIDS, and more often than not, it acts as a second fiddle to the big daddy himself.
And now to reason out, why I believe, Cancer is as dangerous and needs to be given as much importance as AIDS. At the outset, before I go into this, its vital to know, that Cancer has not yet been completely cured today – which leaves it on the same benchmark as AIDS! This in itself is a grave misconception, a trap that I fell into myself. Across the world today; humans have done a grave mistake by generalizing the world Cancer. Cancer in itself is just a parent object, with millions of child objects that are actually responsible for the consequences, this disease is known to possess. This inturn has played a role in the overall assumption that Cancer is cured today. As most of you would know, Cancer occurs in various forms and in various parts of the body, and each of them are genetically totally different from each other. As far as I know, and I may be wrong as well, breast Cancer and a few others are the only ones for which standardized cures have been found. But then again, note the word ‘standardized’. These cannot be considered as permanent remedies simply because they don’t have the same consistency when tried on different patients. The most vital thing in Cancer is the stage in which it is detected. Oncologists across the world, rarely carry a glimmer of hope, when Cancer is detected at Stage III or above, though they never openly express it (there are the miraculous exceptions of course). However, it is also true, that Oncologists would most probably give a breast cancer patient more chance of surviving as compared to someone else, simply because, standardized solutions are now available for these, and they have a very high probability of working (but never 100%). Not to forget that the biggest thing about Cancer, is the symptoms it produces, which in many cases, are so well hidden that the patient could continue living a normal life till the cells progress into Stage IIC or IIIA.
True blue media hype whenever such solutions have been found, have also been dramatically responsible in spreading the wrong notions. For ex, I read this article in the newspaper the other day. The headlines said ‘___________ Institute of Oncology successfully tests Cancer drug.’ As I went on to read, the article was specifically pertaining to bone marrow Cancer. I was left thinking, how ridiculous can it get? When the research is specifically meant for bone marrow Cancer, why can’t they explicitly mention it! For someone who indulges himself only in headlines, couldn’t this prove to be a big disaster?
Overall, I am not saying that Cancer and its cause / effects haven’t been promoted properly by the corresponding organizations, but what’s being done is surely not enough. It just pains me to read statistics of the number of people succumbing to Cancer every year, and to then realize; that the number is actually not too far behind AIDS itself!
I just hope that positive steps would be taken in this direction to spread awareness of this deadly disease, firstly amongst the educated youth of this country. I on my part am ready to do anything, to help in this cause….