By Amina Abdul Salam Statistics issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveal that the life expectancy of men all over the world is still less than the life expectancy of women and this due to the reluctance of men to consult doctors in order to carry out tests. Prostate cancer represents the second most common type of cancer among men globally and the seventh type of cancer common in Egypt in men. Men above 55 years old are among the age group at risk of developing prostate cancer and the rate is expected to increase as a result of the ageing of the population. In a bid to pay more attention to those patients with cancer, a panel discussion entitled "The needs of prostate cancer patients," was held as a part of the Arab League Forum for Patients Associations to discuss the ability of the health system to meet the needs of prostate cancer patients. In addition, an initiative of "Every voice is important,"was launched that aimed at providing those patients with the opportunity to express their needs under the auspices of the Astellas Pharma company, as well as a large number of medical associations in the Arab region. In this domain, Dr Mohsen Moukhtar, Head of Can Survive stressed the importance of raising awareness of cancer. The care of patients with cancer represents a complex structure that includes all concerned therapists, family members of patients and NGOs helping patients with cancer as well as pharmaceutical companies. He said that through the initiative of "Every voice is important", information and analyses related to data about what is the most important need of prostate cancer patients could be obtained in order to specify means of co-operation between all concerned bodies in the field so as to improve patients' care.
