November signals awareness month for men’s health. One of the most prevalent and significant health concerns is prostate cancer and a worrying trend has emerged. Prostate cancer among black men is on the rise in South Africa.
Dr Matthew Benedict, senior lecturer and medical specialist in the department of family medicine in the faculty of health science at the University of the Free State, conducted a study on prostate cancer, particularly amongst black men.
Benedict provides valuable insights into prostate cancer, including its risk factors, symptoms, and the importance of early screening.
“Many men, especially black men, do not know what the prostate is. It’s interesting to know that we do not even have a translation for prostate in most of the South African local languages,” says Benedict.
Understanding the symptoms
“Prostate cancer occurs when there is an unregulated division of cells in the prostate gland in such a way that there is no control. It keeps growing and growing, and there is no control in terms of cell division and growth, so it leads to an overgrowth and then causes cancer.”
While symptoms may not always be present, Benedict highlights some common ones, such as difficulty urinating, frequent urination, especially at night, and blood in the urine.
“Most of the time, at the early onset, there are actually no symptoms, so it’s just developing slowly. Screening helps to check people who even look apparently well to pick up this cancer at an early stage when we can intervene, and most of the time we can achieve a curative outcome.
“However, at the advanced stage 1, one might start having lower back pain, losing weight, observing bloody urine or blood in the semen, and experiencing total obstruction, whereby it’s difficult to pass sharing what we call urinary retention. These are signs that it might have advanced already.”
Benedict further adds that there should be more awareness of the disease to eliminate the delay in diagnosing prostate cancer among South African men.
“In the research I conducted, less than a quarter of black men even know about this disease.”
In this episode, Benedict also discusses:
- The biggest challenges in diagnosing and treating prostate cancer.
- What can be done better to raise more awareness among men?
- The overall importance of screening and early detection.
Listen to the full interview on the Health For Mzansi podcast:
Spotify: Click here to listen on Spotify (all mobile and other devices).
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Google Podcasts: Click here to listen on Google Podcast.
ALSO READ: Why you should get screened for prostate cancer now
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