If you saw the New York City skyline one week ago, you may have noticed that the Empire State Building was lit up blue and orange. You can probably guess it wasn’t for the Denver Broncos — it was for World Cancer Day.
While that was a highly visible reminder of the fight against cancer around the world, there is something happening every day that we don’t see and must stop: People in developing countries are dying in agonizing pain from diseases like cancer, simply because they lack access to the most basic painkillers that the rest of us take for granted.
This kind of needless suffering can be prevented, but to achieve this, we all need to play a role.
Take Uganda as an example. My roots in the country run deep. My grandfather served as the country’s first prime minister, and I still have family in a village called Konge. I worry for them; if they are ever diagnosed with cancer, there is only one cancer center serving a country of 33 million people.
The mortality rate is alarming: Nine in ten patients die within a year, largely due to late-stage diagnosis. And most of them are dying with no pain medication to ease their suffering.
The latest data from the United Nations shows that, worldwide, at least 2.7 million people are estimated to die in moderate or severe pain each year from HIV or cancer.
Imagine yourself or a loved one suffering from cancer with no pain relief. What would you do to remedy that injustice?
Improved access to pain medication is vital, and it’s needed now.
The best medicines for effective pain management are opioids. The World Health Organization considers these essential for pain treatment. Yet 85% of the world’s population living in low- or middle-income countries consumes just 7% of these medications.
Fortunately, in Uganda I also found hope. I visited staff at Hospice Africa Uganda, where I learned about how the Treat the Pain program — run by the American Cancer Society — and the hospice are working with the government to make oral morphine available to patients who need it.
The hospice was able to provide patients with a simple morphine solution that costs just $3 a week and is provided by the government free of charge. Patients were able to get up, move around and enjoy time with their families. Without morphine, this quality of life would be impossible.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer scope and anguish of cancer. But over a few days in Uganda, I learned that something very real can be done about cancer pain.
In this day and age, no one should have to die of cancer in agony and discomfort. We’ve progressed beyond this point. I anxiously await the day we find a cure for cancer. But until then, we can and should treat the pain.
Kiwanuka is a defensive end for the New York Giants. Visit www.treatthepain.org for more information.
