University of the Gambia
GM
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Cancer Incidence, Mortality, Years of Life Lost, Years Lived With Disability, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years for 29 Cancer Groups From 2010 to 2019
IMPORTANCE: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019) provided systematic estimates of incidence, morbidity, and mortality to inform local and international efforts toward reducing cancer burden. OBJECTIVE: To estimate cancer burden and trends globally for 204 countries and territories and by Sociodemographic Index (SDI) quintiles from 2010 to 2019. EVIDENCE REVIEW: The GBD 2019 estimation methods were used to describe cancer incidence, mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2019 and over the past decade. Estimates are also provided by quintiles of the SDI, a composite measure of educational attainment, income per capita, and total fertility rate for those younger than 25 years. Estimates include 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). FINDINGS: In 2019, there were an estimated 23.6 million (95% UI, 22.2-24.9 million) new cancer cases (17.2 million when excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer) and 10.0 million (95% UI, 9.36-10.6 million) cancer deaths globally, with an estimated 250 million (235-264 million) DALYs due to cancer. Since 2010, these represented a 26.3% (95% UI, 20.3%-32.3%) increase in new cases, a 20.9% (95% UI, 14.2%-27.6%) increase in deaths, and a 16.0% (95% UI, 9.3%-22.8%) increase in DALYs. Among 22 groups of diseases and injuries in the GBD 2019 study, cancer was second only to cardiovascular diseases for the number of deaths, years of life lost, and DALYs globally in 2019. Cancer burden differed across SDI quintiles. The proportion of years lived with disability that contributed to DALYs increased with SDI, ranging from 1.4% (1.1%-1.8%) in the low SDI quintile to 5.7% (4.2%-7.1%) in the high SDI quintile. While the high SDI quintile had the highest number of new cases in 2019, the middle SDI quintile had the highest number of cancer deaths and DALYs. From 2010 to 2019, the largest percentage increase in the numbers of cases and deaths occurred in the low and low-middle SDI quintiles. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The results of this systematic analysis suggest that the global burden of cancer is substantial and growing, with burden differing by SDI. These results provide comprehensive and comparable estimates that can potentially inform efforts toward equitable cancer control around the world.
Teaching and practicing nursing code of ethics and values in the Gambia
Nursing has a professional autonomy which goes along with responsibility and accountability of nursing actions. Nursing practice should always be guided by a code of ethics and values. However, the concepts of nursing ethics and values are contained only in the introductory courses of the nursing curriculum in the Gambia. Many nurse educators and clinicians are not knowledgeable about the code of ethics of nursing in this country. Lectures on nursing ethics and values are mostly taught by invited guest lecturers in only one or two lecture sessions of the entire nurse training programme. Teaching nursing ethics and values at clinical level is poor due to the limited number of trained senior nurses to serve as mentors and supervisors for students and junior nurses. Most of the Gambian public health facilities do not have standard guidelines on various nursing procedures. Low status of nurses and conformist style of training nurses hinder the effective implementation of the code of nursing ethics and values among professional nurses in this country. There is, therefore, inadequate teaching and implementation of the code of nursing ethics and values which calls for urgent reforms in nursing education and practice to improve the standard and image of the Nursing Profession in the Gambia.