INTRODUCTION
In Kenya, since 2002 to 2012 there has been a significant economic development, which has led to huge rural-urban migration and expansion of the middle class. Urbanization and economic developments have led to new and improved marketing, distribution infrastructure, which has attracted large supermarkets such as Nakumatt, Tusksys, Uchumi, Ukwala and Naivas branches across the country. Their major contribution in the food distribution is on their expansion to low income estate thereby improving access of refined and processed food suppliers, which has influenced on how Kenyans eat (Hawkes 2006). The social and economic transition, which has been taking place since 2002 through economic development policies adopted by President Mwai Kibaki’s government, as lead to the reduction of below-poverty indexes and expansion of middle class over the last decade. This has promoted new habits such as snacking on foods that are high on fat, sugar and starch. It became the norm in Kenya these ‘westernized’ habits had been highly linked to the raise of non-communicable disease such cancer in the country (Oniang’o, 2003). This review, will be carried out with a sole aim of highlighting on the impact of lifestyle changes that are occasioned by economic transition in Kenya to give a clear picture on the extent to which unhealthy behaviours and harmful exposures are voluntary as the country’s economic opportunities increase — though it is a complex issue still being explored by researchers according to (Suhrcke and Nugent 2006). Cancer is the leading cause of non-communicable disease worldwide and GLOBOCAN estimates that 12.7 million new cases of cancer occurred worldwide in 2008. According to Ferlay, Shin, and Bray (2010), indicated ...
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...ancreatic cancer risk; however, associations were positive for higher consumption levels. This collaborative-pooled analysis provided additional evidence for a positive association between heavy alcohol consumption and the risk of pancreatic cancer.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This review was carried out with a sole aim of highlighting, on the impact of lifestyle changes that were occasioned by economic transition in Kenya from 2002 to 2012 to give a clear picture on the extent to which unhealthy lifestyle changes has influenced cancer prevalence in Kenya.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To review literature on the impact of lifestyle changes in the prevalence of cancer in Kenya.
2. To compare the prevalence on cancer that is attributed to risky lifestyle factors such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, obesity, tobacco use and alcohol consumption trends in Kenya.
“Hungry for Change” is an eye opening documentary made to explore the role that food plays in peoples’ lives. The experts, ranging from authors to medical doctors, address a variety of claims through testimonials, experiments, and statistical evidence. They not only state the flaws in this generation’s diet but also logically explain the reasons behind the downfall in peoples’ diet and offer better ways to approach our health.
Although the two authors do not refer to each other directly in their works, both their perspectives share a common ground that no enough income make people eating less healthy. Pinsker argues that the actual barrier that stops people from eating healthy is the lack of income (129-130). He uses studies to show that poor families choose processed food because children like those tasty processed food (Pinsker 129-134). Whereas poor families cannot afford the waste if children refused to eat healthier but less tasty food parents provided (Pinsker 129-134). Cortright also suggests that income matters the most to why people do not eat healthy. He even further discusses income as the most influential limiting factor by addressing that other factors such as physical proximity to local food sources do not cause people to eat less healthy (Cortright 135-138). The two authors, in general, reach a consensus and mutually prove that income plays as the biggest limiting factor for people to have healthy
International Journal of Epidemiology 36.6 (2007): 1229-234. International Journal of Epidemiology. Oxford University Press, 28 Sept. 2007. Web. The Web.
According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer health disparities are defined as the adverse differences between specific populations and the achievement of an optimal state of health. These population groups are categorized by geographic location, income, disability, age, education, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or race. These factors correlate with cancer mortality rates that impact specific population groups in the United States, cancer prevalence is the number of people diagnosed or living with cancer, and cancer incidence which is the number of new cancer cases in a population. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2013, there were an estimated 1,660,290 new cases of cancer and 580,350 of the new cases resulted in mortality. Individuals who have limited access to healthcare, health illiterate, and poverty stricken are more likely to develop cancer. This means a person’s socioeconomic status can determine the likelihood of their probability of developing cancer
Thus, the government and society must plays their own role on the precaution and prevention in daily life in order to reduce the risk of cancer. The awareness about this matter should be increase to save many human lives. Society should stress upon the symptom cause by cancer and be aware on their environmental exposure. Precautionary measures should be taken ahead to combat this life threatening disease.
The risks of getting cancer in this day and age has been increasing at a rate that could be detrimental to the human race if we do not act now. It is scary to think that you or someone you love and care about will get some type of cancer in their life time. Although there are many different types of cancer that is in existence today, the main focus is breast cancer. We are going to explore the causes breast cancer, the stages, how we can treat it and what precautions that can be taken to help lower ones risk of getting breast cancer. In America a baby girl born today has a 1 in 8 chance of getting breast cancer sometime in her life. These statistics do not seem so scary until they are put into perspective. Every three minute a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and one will die every 13 minutes in a given day. If these rates of breast cancer continue to rise there will soon be a one in one baby girl born that will et diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the future of our world that we are talking about here and no one seems to be changing the main factors that contribute to breast cancer. There are many different suspicious causes but one thing that is clear is that an unhealthy environment has an enormous impact on women and their development from babies to women.
An individual can decrease their risk of a disease occurring due to genetic precursors by making modifications to his or her lifestyle and being an active participant in one’s own health. The most important changes in diet and lifestyle which are a benefit to one’s health include: Avoiding tobacco use, maintaining a healthy weight, maintain a healthy diet and perform some type of daily physical activity (Willett et al., n.d.). Avoiding tobacco products is the single most effective way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer (Willett et al., n.d.). Maintaining a healthy weight will help reduce the risk of coronary artery disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Overweight and obese individuals are more likely to be at higher risk of mortality from colon, breast, kidney and endometrial cancer (Willett et al., n.d.).
...5). If a person drinks on occasion it can be a benefit to a person’s health, but excessive drinking increases the risk of health issues such as liver disease, heart disorders, certain cancers and high blood pressure.
Health problem and drunk driving hit the list. Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. In addition, alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion [3]. Not only that, alcohol can also increase the risk of developing certain cancer. But almost every drinker knows these horrible diseases above, then why they never stop drinking? The point is, a short-term alcohol consumption does tiny harm to human’s body, only long-term alcohol consumption can impair the body badly. Nevertheless, the contradiction is apparent to find out: when a drinker finds that there is something wrong with their health, it is too late. And in a drinker’s early life, they can not completely realize which kind of damage that alcohol consumption can lead because they were healthy at that time——at least on the surface. Alcohol just like a chronic disease, making drinkers less vigilant, and brings on severe health consequences in the end.
MacLennan R, Zhang A. “Cuisine: the concept and its health and nutrition implications-global.”Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr. 13.2(2004):131-135. Print.
Since 1979 the diagnoses of cancer have gone up nearly 20% in a generation as there is more people smoking, drinking, obesity and unfitness (theguardian website, 2011, para. 1). There has been in increase of women with the diagnosis, the diagnoses have risen up by 50% (459 per 100,00), men have risen from 20,000 to 24,000 (the guardian website, 2011, para. 2). Socioeconomic class does have an effect in some cases as cervical and lung cancers are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy (ScienceDaily website, 2008, para. 1). Demographics could also have some effect as those of the wealthier group have more exposure to UV by traveling abroad for the holidays (ScienceDaily website, 2008, para. 5). In regards to smoking, deprived groups continue to smoke while the wealthier groups have quit smoking (ScienceDaily website, 2008, para. 7). Researchers have linked cancer to not only demographics, socioeconomic class but also race and
The country faces various health challenges including a high burden of communicable diseases (such as HIV/AIDS that is responsible for 29.3% of all deaths, malaria and Tuberculosis) and non-communicable diseases (Government of Kenya, 2011). Health services are provided by government, missionaries, ...
Many risk factors associated with preventable diseases that affect the physical bodies are prevalently rising as a result of modern lifestyles. The current system focusses more on financial income, success, jobs, and technology at the expense of intensive focus on wellbeing. The current lifestyles are embedded with modifiable risks, but a lot of efforts are still required. These risks can include tobacco usage, nutrition, and diet, alcohol consumption and exercise. As a result of which there is a tendency towards developing health
Africa is a continent that is rich and diverse in terms of culture and traditions. The continent is also considered to be the agricultural hub in the world. Due to this, most of African culture is ultimately intertwined with the foodstuffs that the land has to offer. In general, most of the inhabitants of Africa live within the rural areas and rely on subsistent farming to meet their day to day food needs. Fast food restaurants and supermarkets where processed and packaged food is sold are usually frowned upon and considered a waste of money and resources (AIG, 2011).
Alcohol and tobacco use may lead to major health risks. Alcohol is associated with chronic liver disease, cancers, cardiovascular disease, acute alcohol poisoning, and fetal alcohol syndrome, while smoking is associated with lung disease, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Alcohol and tobacco cause more than 80 percent of cases of mouth and throat cancer in men and more than 65 percent in women. People who smoke and drink at same time, it is dangerous to mouth and throat cancer increases dramatically. In fact, the combined risk is greater than or equal to the risk associated with alcohol multiplied by the risk associated with tobacco. The American Heart Association estimates that more than 34 percent of the United States population has some form of cardiovascular disease. First, cardiovascular disease encompasses a variety of conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, and hardenin...