World Cancer Day in Armenia & Turkey

The fourth day of February was World Caner Day; an occasion to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection and treatment all around the world.

World Health Organization statistics show that 12.5 percent of all deaths in the world are caused by cancer, 25 million people live with cancer, and 11 million new cases are registered every year. Estimates put new cancer cases at 16 million annually by 2020 and 24 million annually by 2030. Furthermore, by 2030 75 million people will live with cancer, two-thirds of them in developing countries.

Progression of Cancer in Armenia

RFE/RL cites Mr. Hayrapet Galstian, Director of the National Center for Oncology, according to who the incidence of cancer in Armenia has grown by at least 50 percent over the past 2 decades. Smoking and poor diet are among the reasons for that.

The latest disease data released show about 7,300 ‘officially registered’ cases of cancer in 2007. The figure is sharply up from about 5,000 such cases registered in 1985.

According to Mr. Galstian, breast cancer accounts for much of the increase, even if lung cancer remains the most common oenological disease, having affected about 1,300 Armenians in 2007. “The rate of growth of breast cancer is now higher than that of lung cancer,” he told journalists, adding that some 1,100 women were diagnosed with the disease in 2007.

Mr. Galstian said high rates of smoking among Armenians and a poor quality of food are the main factors behind the alarming rise. He also claimed that recent years’ shrinkage of green areas in Yerevan and other parts of the country has also contributed to the rise.

These explanations seem to some extent insufficient. It is true that the green areas have steadily shrunk but at the same time Soviet era heavy industries polluting the Armenian air, water and soil have all closed down. Moreover, in terms of the quality of food, it is questionable to claim that a deterioration has happened.

The rise in the incidence of cancer may, at least partially, be due to a better and more extensive diagnosis and ‘official registration’, particularly in provinces.

Similar Rise in Turkey

A similar rise has been recorded in the neighboring Turkey where there are nearly 150,000 new cases every year.

Zaman Turkish daily reports that according to the Turkish Ministry of Health, cancer is only 2nd to heart disease as the leading cause of death in Turkey. Statistics show that while the number of cancer patients was 8,879 in 1999, this figure increased to 12,772 in 2003 and continues to rise.

According to data provided by the Turkish Association for Cancer Research and Control, 150,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Turkey. The most frequent types of cancer are lung cancer, stomach cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, larynx and prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women.

The strategy of Turkish health authorities is to favor early diagnosis of cancer. Since 2004, 11 new centers have opened; at least one in every province. "This is not just a building. There are 150,000 lives to be saved," a Ministry of Health official Mr. Murat Tuncer said.

On the occasion of World Cancer Day this year, a new Early Cancer Diagnosis, Screening and Education Center opened in Ankara Oncology Education and Research Hospital. Mr. Nurullah Zengin, the hospital's chief physician, said cancer is a health problem that becomes more serious with each passing day. Stressing the importance of early diagnosis in cancer treatment, Zengin said steps taken by Turkey related to anti-smoking are promising since smoking is a major cause of cancer.

According to the Ministry of Health’s Mr. Tuncer, there are plans to open an "International Cancer Institute" at the hospital.
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Armenia Research Directory Established

Arka news agency reports that the State Committee on Science has moved one step forward in trying to create the necessary coordination mechanisms in Armenia’s highly fragmented research environment.

The Committee Chairperson Mr. Samvel Haroutunian has declared that the Committee has completed compiling information in a directory of Armenian scientists and research institutions. The directory includes information on research conducted by scientists in Armenia as well as in the Diaspora.

Updated information on 98 Armenia-based research structures have been registered. Thirty-three of the 98 institutions operate under the administrative authority of the Academy of Sciences, 25 under the Ministry of Education and Science (are affiliated with public universities), and 40 under other ministries. Almost 80% of these institutions are located in Yerevan.

According to Mr. Haroutunian, the Committee has issued identification codes for all research and scientific institutions, as well as individual researchers who receive grants from the state. The latter measure will help “prevent the payment of multiple grants to the same person registered at different research institutions.”
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Non-Russians Under Tight Control

Mr. Paul Goble’s recent post on his blog Window on Eurasia relates to Russian government’s recent decision to use 'harsh measures' to stop ethnic clashes in Moscow universities. Until very recently, Mr. Goble was Director of Research and Publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Baku.

According to a report in Izvestiya Russian daily dated 3 February 2009, via Window on Eurasia, clashes between students of various nationalities and ethnicities have become so frequent and violent that the Russian government has decided to expel those involved and to screen strictly those applying to study in Moscow.

The number of non-Russian students in Moscow is rather large. Most of the 120,000 foreign students in Russia are based in the capital. They are mostly from the former Soviet Republics, Asia, Africa and Latin America. In addition, there are tens of thousands of students who are Russian citizens but members of non-Russian ethnic groups.

According to Moscow authorities, interethnic clashes often involving weapons, are now taking place in the Russian capital's institutions of higher education “almost every week”. Most of the problems are usually caused by young people from the North and South Caucasus – "Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Ossetia."

Repressive Control Measures

The plan to bring the situation under control is the product of a series of ‘expert meetings’ over the last several months. According to Izvestiya, thanks to the plan, educational institutions will gain broader powers to expel students, and applicants will be screened by a special "filtration" commission that the authorities plan to create. The commission will consist of officials from the city government, the interior ministry, and the FSB (ex-KGB).

The ethnically non-Russian citizens of the Russian Federation (North Caucasians, etc.), Izvestiya suggests, are responsible for many of the serious problems. Mikhail Solomentsev, the Head of Moscow City Council's Nationality Policy Committee, said that "it is no secret" that many of them are sent to Moscow not so much because of their academic achievements and interests but as the result of corruption in their home areas.

As a result, these "students" often are more interested in entertaining themselves than in getting an education. That makes "filtration" of such students essential, he said, and added that the Moscow city government plans to send letters to republic presidents demanding that they take "personal control" over the selection process.

Moreover, the paper says, the government plans to ask administrators at the educational institutions to organize special "operational groups of students" who will react quickly to any conflicts that may arise between members of different national-ethnic groups and take quick action to prevent such clashes from getting out of hand.

Such group, a militia official told the paper will be "a good thing," but he said that they must not be formed "on ethnic lines" as might happen naturally under the circumstances. Were that to occur, he said flatly, "we will have a new headache," possibly in the form of even larger and more violent conflicts in the future.

Insufficient Integration Mechanisms

University officials report they "try to integrate [non-Russian] students into the life of the capital." There are special psychologists available to provide counseling and guidance, but "foreigners usually do not" make use of their services. And consequently special "integration" course need to be organized and made mandatory for all.

According to the officials, one of the major breeding grounds of ethnic clashes are dormitories where students choose to live with others of their own ethnic group, but the students say that they do so because of the difficulties of living in what is often an alien environment and resent those who insist that some political calculation is behind their decision.

Mr. Goble finds it significant that Izvestiya does not say much about the xenophobic attitudes of ethnic Russian students that may explain some of the problems the non-Russian students are causing including in the dorms.
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