THE Australian Macedonian Medical Society is funding a research project for the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation into the most common cancers that affect Macedonians living here.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
The project will be held at St George Hospital's Cancer Care Centre next year and will be the first of its kind in Australia.
It was the brainchild of the medical society's president Zoran Becvarovski — an ear, nose and throat specialist at St George Private Hospital and a St George Hospital Medical Staff Council member.
Dr Becvarovski said the aim of the 2014 Macedonian Community Cancer Research Award was to prevent cancer in future generations through increased awareness and prevention.
"What we've done through the Cancer Care Centre is an analysis over the past five years of the most common cancers that affect the Macedonian community," Dr Becvarovski said.
"Cancers that are most common are lung, colon, ovarian and breast, as in other communities.
"There's a huge tobacco industry in Macedonia and many of the communities make their money from the tobacco industry.
"In terms of bowel, it's dietary [linked]. There's low fibre, high salt and they are big red meat eaters."
Dr Becvarovski said there was anxiety surrounding the diagnosis of cancer within the Australian Macedonian community. However, there was also the realisation that modern medicine and surgery had significantly improved survival rates.
"There's also a trend now to prevention, whereas 20 years ago this wasn't so much of a focus," he said.
"What's driven the change in perception is education from the Australian media and living in a country such as ours that has a lot of health promotion, which is reinforced by younger members of the family and societies like ours."
The Australian Macedonian Medical Society, established in 2009, has more than 50 members and raised $16,000 for the project at a recent charity golf day.
Donations: ceo@stgeorgemrf.com.au or 0403 367 777.
