Treating chronic disease as a public health problem

Public health intervention for cancer 

Public health interventions are known to be policies and efforts instituted to improve the physical and mental health of a populous (Mayo Clinic, 2019). They could be run by either governmental health departments or NGO’s. A public health intervention for cancer is the screening programs instituted. Screening is conducted on individuals who meet set criteria to rule out the possibility of them suffering from cancer (Mayo Clinic, 2019). Screening ensures that the patient is identified during the early stages where the cancer is manageable and ensures that the condition is remedied to ensure it does not affect the patient’s quality of life. 

Cancer Causes 

Cancer is caused by several chemical and physical substances. These substances are known as carcinogenic, and they affect the genetic make-up of an individual by leading to a downstream of changes in protein processing and the RNA (Mayo Clinic, 2019). The substances cause mutations in the oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes to finally override the regulatory mechanism of human cell growth. 

Risk factors 

Some of the major risk factors associated with cancer include exposure to chemicals and other carcinogenic substances, chronic inflammation, diet, alcohol, obesity, family history, and age of the patient (NIH, 2019). It is essential to limit one's exposure to the risk factors if they are to minimize their chances of getting cancer. 

Diagnosis and treatment 

A cancer diagnosis can help in realizing the curing of the condition if found out in the early stages. Diagnosis is made through a biopsy, physical exam, laboratory tests, and imaging tests (NIH, 2019). Cancer treatments range from surgery, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted drug therapy (NIH, 2019). There are also clinical trials that are done to come up with new and more effective means of treating cancer. Currently, researchers have found a potential way to turn on one of the silenced tumor-suppressor proteins in cancer called PTEN through a natural compound I3C (NIH, 2019). The researchers are looking forward to moving towards human trials. 

References  

Mayo Clinic. (2019). Cancer. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20370588 

NIH. (2019). Researchers turn on PTEN tumor-suppressor protein in cancer cells. Retrieved from https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2019/turning-on-pten-tumor-suppressor-ic3 

NIH. (2019). Risk factors for cancer. Retrieved from https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk