Are we Fighting Cancer the Right Way?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2016
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The World Health Organisation says the number of cancer cases will rise by 70% over the next 20 years. A huge amount of effort and money is spent fighting the disease. But are we getting that fight right? In this special hour-long edition of The Inquiry four expert witnesses tell us new ideas are being stifled, that there is not enough money being spent on drugs to treat early-stage cancer and that we are not doing enough to stop people from getting cancer in the first place. We put that evidence to someone in a position to do something about it - Dr Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, the world's largest biomedical research agency, with a budget of $32 billion.
(Photo: Lab Technician preparing protein. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC World Service, this is Helena Merriman with the inquiry. This week are we fighting cancer the right way. |
| 0:15.0 | Every minute, are we fighting cancer the right way? |
| 0:20.0 | Every minute, every day someone gets the news. |
| 0:25.0 | I'm 21 years old and I was just diagnosed with stage 4 |
| 0:29.0 | Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is like a cancer of the blood. |
| 0:32.0 | Some catch it early. which is like a cancer of the blood. |
| 0:33.0 | Some catch it early. |
| 0:35.0 | It's all working out to be fine. |
| 0:36.0 | Now I have five weeks off for radiation and chemotherapy. |
| 0:40.0 | Hopefully both of them will kill cancer. |
| 0:42.0 | Others aren't so lucky. Hopefully both of them will kill country. |
| 0:43.0 | Others aren't so lucky. |
| 0:45.0 | He gives me somewhere between 45 and 90 days left to live. |
| 0:49.0 | Now I've got a firm line in the sand. |
| 0:51.0 | I'll be using every second that I've got. |
| 0:54.0 | Cancer is now one of the world's biggest killers and it's not just a disease of the |
| 0:59.6 | rich world in fact more than half of those who die live in developing countries. |
| 1:05.0 | And the number of people who are diagnosed with cancer every year is rising rapidly. |
| 1:10.0 | Currently, it's around 14 million. By 2030 the World Health Organization predicts that will grow to 24 million. |
| 1:20.0 | With costs for treatment spiraling out of control, |
| 1:23.2 | you can see why world leaders are making bold pledges. |
| 1:27.1 | For the loved ones we've all lost, |
... |
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