Cancer in Quebec | “There is an urgency to act”

Faced with the glaring lack of data on cancer in Quebec, organizations launched a heartfelt cry to the Legault government on Thursday. They are calling for the urgent implementation of an action plan to combat cancer, the leading cause of death in the province.

“There is an urgency to act. We expect to have a plan as ambitious as a battery factory for vehicles,” declared the president and CEO of the Cancer Research Society, Manon Pepin, in a press conference Thursday morning.

The Quebec Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Research Society, Leucan and PROCURE have joined forces to ask the government for a plan to fight cancer with measurable objectives and dedicated funds. “We cannot say how many people have lung cancer. We are not able to know how many people in Quebec have had three cancers in a row. We are unable to know if there is a region that has more lung cancers” listed M.^me Seed.

The organizations maintain that Quebec is lagging far behind the rest of Canada. “British Columbia and Prince Edward Island have much more targeted plans where cancer is at the heart of the actions,” says M^me Seed. They are calling for a dashboard dedicated specifically to cancer data. “The minister’s current dashboard [Christian] Dubé is a very effective tool and we want the same thing for cancer, which is the most fatal disease in Quebec,” she says.

Make cancer the priority

In addition to updated data, organizations are calling for more awareness, faster diagnoses and expanded access to innovative treatments. “Cancer remains the deadliest disease and unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be a priority,” says M.^me Seed. “Cancer is the great forgotten one,” added the general director of the Quebec Cancer Foundation, Marco Décelles.

They also want more investment in research, considering the current funding insufficient. “We absolutely must invest in research and in scholarships for our students who will stay in Quebec,” says Manon Pepin. Research is an investment, not an expense.”

The general director of Leucan, Juli Meilleur, maintains that more investments in research would allow more children to be healthy. “There is little research and little funding for rare cancers, making the 15% of children who die from cancer difficult to reduce,” she said in a statement. “Moreover, 70% of children who recover from cancer will have after-effects, including 30% who will experience serious after-effects. We must find solutions to these problems,” she added.

The organizations also want access to preventive measures and screening programs to be strengthened. “We need to inform certain communities well. For example, the black community is twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as other communities,” says Laurent Proulx, president and CEO of PROCURE, a cancer charity. of the prostate. He wants more resources to be deployed on the ground.