Girl Talk HPV school-based vaccine campaign
March 28, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Integrated School Health Programme Manager, National Department of Health, Feni Motshwane, details the success of the HPV school-based vaccine campaign thus far. When did the HPV school-based vaccine campaign start? The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign was introduced in SA, in March 2014, in the public health sector.  This school-based vaccination campaign was launched by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motswaledi, and Deputy Minister, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, in Bloemfontein, Free State. Why was it started? The intended long-term strategic goal of the HPV school-based vaccine campaign is to reduce the risk of cervical cancer in future women, which is a high national priority. …

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In the Spotlight Public hospital prostate brachytherapy programme
March 28, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Thanks to a successful joint prostate brachytherapy training workshop with Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) Department of Radiation Oncology and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) Urology Unit last year, this year 50 early prostate cancer patients will be treated with prostate brachytherapy at CHBAH. The first of the planned workshops was conducted in June 2021 at CHBAH and three patients with early stage prostate cancer were treated. Several specialist and training radiation oncologists, urologists and medical physicists got the opportunity of both observing and getting hands-on-experience doing prostate brachytherapy under expert guidance. BD, a medical technology company, agreed to sponsor the…

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Treatment Drug safety in the home
March 28, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Oncology pharmacist, Lailaa Cajee, helps us understand the importance of drug safety in the home. The development of numerous oral chemotherapy drugs (OCDs) has led to a new paradigm in cancer treatment. In 1995, there were only six oral chemotherapy drugs. This number grew to a whopping 90 in 2018. It’s estimated that more than 25% of the 400 cancer drugs in the pipeline are oral.  Whilst these medications are convenient and allow flexibility, they are not without complications or risks. How and where you store your OCDs affects how well the drug works. Drug safety in the home is crucial for the…

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Childhood Cancer Paediatric stem cell transplantation challenges in South Africa
March 28, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Professor Gita Naidu explains the various challenges that are faced in paediatric stem cell transplantation. Stem cell therapy has become a very promising and advanced scientific research topic. Multi-potent haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the most popular stem cell therapy and is used to eliminate blood diseases that infiltrate the bone marrow, such as leukaemia, or to correct congenital immunodeficiency disorders and metabolic defects. Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation is also used to enable cancer patients to receive higher doses of chemotherapy than the bone marrow is normally able to tolerate.  Two types of stem cell transplantation Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) uses human leucocyte…

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Cancer Care The language of cancer
March 24, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Social worker, Avril de Beer, expands on how language (words and metaphors) can inspire or disempower cancer patients. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”  (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass) Military metaphors like battle or war Many people use words or metaphors to express their own individual experience of a cancer diagnosis and treatment. According to Dr Michelle Riba, director of the PsychOncology Program at…

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For the boys Metastatic testicular cancer
March 24, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Dr Daleen Geldenhuys describes how testicular cancer becomes metastatic and the treatment thereof. Testicular germ cell tumours, broadly classified into seminomas and non-seminomas, are among the most curable cancers, with five-year survival rates of approximately 95%. Men with advanced disease are classified into good-, intermediate-, and poor-risk groups. The grouping considers the site of the primary cancer as well as the sites of metastatic disease, and serum tumour marker levels.  The primary cancer can be testicular or in the chest. This may sound strange, but it’s thought to be attributed to an abnormal migration of gonadal tissue (cells that are destined to become part of…

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Oncofertility If it’s meant to be, it will be
March 24, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Kevin and Donna Dudley’s nine years of marriage has been filled with an ectopic pregnancy, fertility difficulties, and a cancer diagnosis. Yet, they have three gorgeous children. Kevin (43) and Donna Dudley (38) live in Gauteng with their three children: Dylan (6), Leila (3) and Mathew (1). Ectopic pregnancy Donna had an unfortunate ectopic pregnancy in 2014. “It was quite scary as the doctor had missed it. She unfortunately ruptured and started bleeding internally, causing her to lose her right fallopian tube. After Donna lost her right fallopian tube, we had to go on a series of treatments and have numerous scans,” Kevin…

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Exercise and cancer Defining fitness and physical activity levels
March 24, 2022 Word for Word Media
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What does fitness mean to you? Biokineticist, Wendy Vermaak, explains the 12 principles of fitness to help you measure your fitness. There are many examples of what we would deem as fit and we often measure ourselves against that standard.  If you are fighting a cancer diagnosis, undergoing treatment or recovering from treatment, your view of fitness might be more relevant to you at your current state as a person, as opposed to comparative to some elite athlete.  Let’s compare different examples of fitness. For instance, would you say that a Comrades Marathon runner is fit? What about Arnold Schwarzenegger as a professional body builder?…

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Caregivers Jamie Naidoo – Working in state is the perfect fit
March 24, 2022 Word for Word Media
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Jamie Naidoo, a haematology nurse at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH), tells us why working in the state sector is the perfect fit for her. Jamie (Deloshini) Naidoo (44) lives in Chatsworth, Kwa-Zulu Natal with her husband and two sons (10 and 16).  Jamie has been a professional nurse (oncology trained) for 16 years. She currently works in the Haematology Ward and the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at IALCH. Her responsibilities involve administering chemotherapy and blood products; managing side effects and complications of patients during and post chemotherapy; monitoring patients pre/during and post bone marrow transplants and managing complications; as well…

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