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Clarity Sibanda, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe The International Cancer Day 2017 (4th February) comes at a time when the death rate due to the disease is increasing, notwithstanding the research going on to diagnose and cure more people. Several progressive governments are calling for nicotine tar lovers to quit smoking, which accounts for more than 20% of all cancer deaths worldwide. Tobacco use increases the risk of at least 14 types of cancers: lung, larynx, oesophagus, mouth, bladder, stomach, bowel among others. Approximately 47% of cancer cases and 55% of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries and, according to health experts, by 2030 these countries are expected to bear the brunt of an estimated 21.4 million new cancer cases per year, accounting for 60-70% of the global cancer burden. Research has found that tobacco use is the single biggest avoidable cause of cancer globally. Although nicotine is addictive, assistance with cessation is vital for many who want to q...

Clarity Sibanda, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe The Global Coalition Against Childhood Pneumonia (GCACP) says pneumonia is the most deadly infectious disease for children under the age of 5 worldwide and although statistics from 2000 to 2015 reveal that the annual death toll from childhood pneumonia decreased from 1.7 million deaths annually to 920,000 in 2015. 2,500 children still die from pneumonia every day. This amounts to 16% of all child deaths. Pneumonia is a life threatening respiratory illness that is a leading world killer of children under 5 and kills a child every 30 seconds. Most of these deaths are in poor and rural communities and a 2012 study found that less than 1% of childhood deaths due to pneumonia occur in developed countries while over 90% of deaths in children under 5 years occur in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. Pneumonia has a number of bacterial, viral and fungal causes and can be caused by bacteria and viruses already present in the body, or transmitted fro...