Philippines takes cancer screening into the workplace

Philippines takes cancer screening into the workplace
Office worker Gemma Remojo attends a free HPV test in her workplace in Taguig City, Philippines on Jan. 26. (Mariejo Ramos/Thomson Reuters Foundation)
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Updated 23 February 2024
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Philippines takes cancer screening into the workplace

Philippines takes cancer screening into the workplace
  • Detection rates are low, diagnosis is slow
  • State asks private sector to improve workers’ health

MANILA: Saddled with high cancer rates and late diagnoses, the Philippines is trying a whole new tack: asking businesses to step into state shoes and screen millions of workers for early signs of the disease.

Be it cervical, breast or colon cancer, the Southeast Asian nation wants to lower its cancer deaths by increasing screening.
Medics say early detection is key to improving survival rates, so last year the government changed course and opted to partner with the private sector to boost testing levels.
In September, the government ordered all employers to set up cancer prevention and control programs to ease pressures on time- and cash-poor staff, who must otherwise contribute to the cost of diagnosis and treatment themselves.
Employers are now required to give employees access to cancer screening, by referrals to reputable health facilities or conducting free screenings themselves.
The order stemmed from the landmark National Integrated Cancer Control Act, which pledged better screening, diagnosis and treatment and to make health services “more equitable and affordable for all, especially for the underprivileged, poor and marginalized.”
Cervical screening
Since the start of the year, 500 Filipinos have tested under the new setup — officer worker Gemma Remojo was among the first.
“I’ve been suffering from reproductive issues and hormonal imbalance so I really needed this test,” said Remojo, a 35-year-old employed by finance company Home Credit.
Under the Philippine health system, Remojo would have to pay for tests in a private clinic or ask the national health insurance to cover her screening, which takes time to process.
Home Credit’s cervical screening service began in January, with kits distributed to workers for free after a short lecture.
The workers collect their own specimens in a designated space inside the workplace and their results are posted out by medical providers some weeks later. Employers cannot access the results, circumventing any data privacy concerns.
A positive test detects the presence of HPV, the virus linked to cervical cancer — the fourth most common cancer among women globally.
Roughly 91 percent of cervical cancer cases are thought to be caused by HPV, and every year more than half of cervical cancer cases in the Philippines lead to death.
The kit was provided for free by the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics (Jhpiego), a nonprofit health organization helping hundreds of workers get free HPV screenings in the Philippines.
According to Jhpiego, the cancer awareness lecture and do-it-yourself kits help simplify the screening process for women.
The government said the aim was to screen more citizens and do it more quickly — then to speed up diagnoses.
“With cancer ranking third among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the country, the advisory serves as our proactive contribution to combating the disease,” Alvin Curada, director of the government’s Bureau of Working Conditions, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Engaging the private sector underscores the country’s commitment ... It signifies a shared responsibility between the government and the private sector,” he said.
Bridging health gaps
A key incentive for users to get tested is the lower cost, along with a better health outlook.
The cost of treatment is high; Filipino cancer patients lose a combined 35 billion Philippine pesos ($625 million) a year in medical costs, out-of-pocket expenses and lost wages, according to a study by health economist Valerie Ulep of state think-tank the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
Ulep said early screening could save lives, as only 1 percent of Filipino women are ever screened for breast or cervical cancer, among the lowest rates in the world.
The poor take-up comes despite that fact that breast and cervical are among the leading cancers affecting Filipino women.
The cost of screening is also prohibitive, said Jhpiego’s Marco Ugoy, who works to raise awareness on reproductive health.
The price in hospitals can range from 3,000 to 30,000 Philippine pesos, when a minimum-wage earner in the Philippines earns an average 17,000 pesos each month.
All employers must enroll staff in the Philippines’ national health insurance company, PhilHealth, but that universal policy only partly covers a patient’s costs.
The new scheme aims to bridge some of the gap.
Hard to roll out
The government’s Curada said work was an ideal place to run a cancer program because of its structure and facilities.
To ensure company compliance, employers must submit an annual report to government detailing the extent of cancer-related activities or else risk an unspecified fine.
But health advocates worry that guidelines may be too scant and that policy awareness remains low.
“It’s a big step that a directive like this was signed. But do all companies implement it? Do the workers know about the policy?” said Ugoy of Jhpiego.
Ugoy said some business owners were already big advocates of workplace screenings, but he cited challenges in getting factories, especially those in autonomous ecozones, to comply.
The Philippines has more than 400 special economic zones that run with little or no government interference, and have historically been linked to a range of human rights concerns.
Nadia De Leon of the Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development, a nonprofit for worker health and safety, said the new government tack represents a big step forward.
But the guidelines “may remain largely symbolic” if not strictly enforced and monitored, she said.

Screenings for women
Home Credit’s Arianne Eucogo said the company prioritized HPV screenings over other cancer programs since about 65 percent of their employees are women.
“We’re primarily doing it for health promotion of our employees, knowing that the rate of cervical cancer deaths in the Philippines is high,” she said.
Ugoy said one of the biggest barriers to health checkups was simply time, as health centers only open during office hours.
Ugoy said the private sector must also partner with community-based groups and local government to boost take-up and get around the time constraints.
For example, in Taguig City, the fifth most populous in the country, dozens of companies partnered with the city’s own team to run their HPV screenings and cancer treatment, be it through office clinics, ride-hailing services or call centers.
Ugoy said this approach — with free test kits from Jhpiego and labs paid by the city government — had sped up diagnosis.
“It shouldn’t stop at diagnostics. Screening and treatment must go hand in hand when it comes to cancer,” said Marites Diaz, who has worked for 32 years at the Taguig Health Office.


EU’s Borrell in Kyiv to reassure Ukraine of Europe’s backing

EU’s Borrell in Kyiv to reassure Ukraine of Europe’s backing
Updated 15 sec ago
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EU’s Borrell in Kyiv to reassure Ukraine of Europe’s backing

EU’s Borrell in Kyiv to reassure Ukraine of Europe’s backing
  • ‘The message is a clear one — the Europeans will continue to support Ukraine’
  • Europe together has spent around $125 billion on supporting Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion
KYIV: EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell arrived Saturday in Kyiv to reassure Ukraine of Europe’s backing in the first visit by a top Brussels official after Donald Trump’s poll win.
The volatile Republican’s victory in the United States election has set nerves jangling in Ukraine and Europe that Trump could end Washington’s support for Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
“The message is a clear one — the Europeans will continue to support Ukraine,” Borrell, who is set to leave office next month, told an AFP journalist accompanying him.
“We have been supporting Ukraine since the beginning, and on this my last visit to Ukraine, I convey the same message, we will support you as much as we can.”
On the campaign trail, Trump cast doubt on maintaining the vast US military and financial aid to Ukraine and said he could cut a quick deal to end the war.
“Nobody knows exactly what the new administration is going to do,” Borrell said, pointing out that incumbent Joe Biden still has two months in power to make decisions.
“But we Europeans have to use this opportunity in order to build a stronger and united Europe, and one of the manifestations of being united and being stronger and able to act is our role in supporting Ukraine.”
Europe together has spent around $125 billion on supporting Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, while the United States alone has coughed up more than $90 billion, according to a tracker from the Kiel Institute.
Keeping the US, Ukraine’s single biggest donor, on board is seen by most as key for ensuring Kyiv stays afloat, especially at a time of political uncertainty in major European powers Germany and France.
On the battlefield, Ukraine’s fatigued troops are struggling to stave off Russia’s advances as they approach three years of full-scale combat.
Borrell, who will meet top Ukrainian officials on his visit, said it was up to EU countries to decide “when and how to increase” their support if needed.
But he said that at a meeting of EU leaders in Budapest Friday “most of the member states were insisting on the same line, continue supporting Ukraine.”

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’
Updated 8 min 29 sec ago
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Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’
  • The US Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump
  • Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian government asset

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday described as “totally unfounded” US accusations of a plot by Tehran to assassinate president-elect Donald Trump.

The foreign ministry “rejects allegations that Iran is implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials,” spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement, after US prosecutors announced charges over the alleged plot.

The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with planning the assassination of the Republican president-elect.

Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots.

Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.

The official was quoted by Shakeri as saying that “We have already spent a lot of money” and that “money’s not an issue.” Shakeri told investigators the official told him that if he could not put together a plan within the seven-day timeframe, then the plot would be paused until after the election because the official assumed Trump would lose and that it would be easier to kill him then, the complaint said.

Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran. Two other men were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has endured multiple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement.

“I’m very shocked,” said Alinejad, speaking by telephone to The Associated Press from Berlin, where she was about to attend a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the tearing down of the wall. “This is the third attempt against me and that’s shocking.”

In a post on the social media platform X, she said: “I came to America to practice my First Amendment right to freedom of speech — I don’t want to die. I want to fight against tyranny, and I deserve to be safe. Thank you to law enforcement for protecting me, but I urge the US government to protect the national security of America.”

Lawyers for the two other defendants, identified as Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera, did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Iran’s UN Mission declined to comment.

Shakeri, an Afghan national who immigrated to the US as a child but was later deported after spending 14 years in prison for robbery, also told investigators that he was tasked by his Revolutionary Guard contact with plotting the killings of two Jewish-Americans living in New York and Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. Officials say he overlapped with Rivera while in prison as well as an unidentified co-conspirator.

The criminal complaint says Shakeri disclosed some of the details of the alleged plots in a series of recorded telephone interviews with FBI agents while in Iran. The stated reason for his cooperation, he told investigators, was to try to get a reduced prison sentence for an associate behind bars in the US

According to the complaint, though officials determined that some of the information he provided was false, his statements regarding a plot to kill Trump and Iran’s willingness to pay large sums of money were determined to be accurate.

The plot, disclosed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials, including Trump, on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot targeting American officials.

“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday. FBI Director Christopher Wray said the case shows Iran’s “continued brazen attempts to target US citizens,” including Trump, “other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran.”

Iranian operatives also conducted a hack-and-leak operation of emails belonging to Trump campaign associates in what officials have assessed was an effort to interfere in the presidential election.

Intelligence officials have said Iran opposed Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the president-elect was aware of the assassination plot and nothing will deter him “from returning to the White House and restoring peace around the world.”


Reeking mud sparks health fears in Spain flood epicenter

Reeking mud sparks health fears in Spain flood epicenter
Updated 22 min 7 sec ago
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Reeking mud sparks health fears in Spain flood epicenter

Reeking mud sparks health fears in Spain flood epicenter

SEDAVI, Spain: The sea of mud and stagnant water submerging Spanish towns more than 10 days after the country’s worst floods in decades has sparked a sickening stench and health fears.
“That’s the rotten meat,” said Toni Marco, pointing to a destroyed supermarket in the devastated town of Sedavi from which a disgusting odour wafted when AFP visited.
The meat was only removed recently, well after the floods cut the refrigerators’ electricity supply, added Marco, a 40-year-old employee of a private cleaning company.
The nearby town of Catarroja also remains a mud bath after the October 29 disaster that has claimed 219 lives, with a powerful reek compounding the woes of survivors.
The diversity of matter decomposing under the mud produces a spectrum of smells ranging from the mildly unpleasant to the outright repulsive.
“Each decomposition of an element smells differently,” which explains why the odours vary from street to street, said Angel Aldehuela, a 51-year-old firefighter from the southern Seville region.
Dead animals may also lie buried under the mud, he told AFP.
When the mud dries, the organic matter decomposes without oxygen and “that’s where those smells we’re not used to start to appear,” explained Miguel Rodilla, a biologist at Valencia’s Polytechnic University.
“There aren’t necessarily bodies nearby, but simply organic matter decomposing.”

FEARS OF AN OUTBREAK
In scenes reminiscent of the Covid-19 pandemic, rescuers, volunteers and residents have worn facemasks and gloves during the clean-up, while some people have complained of the stink causing headaches and dizziness.
Breathing in the pestilential miasma “isn’t ideal for health,” but “higher concentrations” of decomposing matter would be necessary to make it toxic, said Rodilla.
Stagnant water can trigger gastrointestinal disorders or pneumonia, Health Minister Monica Garcia told public radio RNE, but she ruled out the possibility of an “outbreak.”
The health board of the Valencia region, particularly crippled by the floods, has also reported no outbreak of infectious diseases or a major threat to public health.
Even so, regional health authorities have asked local councils to apply measures to control and prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes and other insects capable of spreading diseases.
Aldehuela warned that the foetid fumes enveloping Catarroja “will get worse, without a doubt,” predicting they would linger for up to a week more.
But in towns where the muck has been cleared swiftly, an aroma of bread or fruit has replaced the stench, the head of the army’s emergencies unit Javier Marcos said on Friday.


Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises

Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises
Updated 09 November 2024
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Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises

Japan’s Ishiba vows military buildup and deeper ties with US as regional tension rises
  • Shigeru Ishiba: Security environment surrounding Japan and the international community has significantly worsened due to escalating tensions with China, Russia and North Korea

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday renewed a pledge to build up his country’s military and deepen its alliance with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump.
Ishiba, who made the comments at an annual troop review held at Camp Asaka in the Tokyo suburbs, said the security environment surrounding Japan and the international community has significantly worsened due to escalating tensions with China, Russia and North Korea. He pledged to reinforce Japan’s military power.
He said breaches of Japanese airspace by Chinese and Russian warplanes earlier this year “not only violated Japanese sovereignty but also threatened the safety of Japan and are absolutely unacceptable.” He said Japan faces growing threats from China’s accelerating military activity around Japanese coasts and from North Korea’s repeated missile firings.
“As we face the most severe and complex security environment, I will balance and strengthen Japan’s diplomacy and security,” Ishiba said in his speech before hundreds of troops gathered for the ceremony.
The Japan-US alliance is the lynchpin for achieving this, Ishiba said, pledging to elevate Japan’s ties with the United States and work closely with Trump as they agreed during a brief telephone conversation Thursday.
Ishiba took office on Oct. 1, replacing his unpopular predecessor Fumio Kishida but his governing coalition badly lost a recent parliamentary election and could face difficulty pursuing his party’s planned policies and budget plans in coming months.
Ishiba pledged to pursue the ongoing military buildup plan under the 2022 security strategy adopted by his predecessor, Fumio Kishida, which calls for a counter-strike capability with long-range cruise-missiles, a break from its self-defense only principle. Ishiba said he will pursue strengthening of command system to improve operation between Japanese and US troops.
After its devastating defeat in World War II, Japan had prioritized economic recovery over defense under its war-renouncing constitution, but has steadily strengthened its defense capability over the past years.


At least 24 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say

At least 24 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say
Updated 19 min 2 sec ago
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At least 24 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say

At least 24 killed in Pakistan train station bomb blast, police say

QUETTA: At least 24 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police and other officials told Reuters.
Pakistan is grappling with a surge in strikes by separatist ethnic militants in the south and Islamist militants in its northwest.
Inspector general of police for Balochistan, Mouzzam Jah Ansari, said 24 people have died from the blast so far.
“The target was army personnel from the Infantry School,” he said, with many of the injured in critical condition.
“So far 44 injured people have been brought to civil hospital,” Dr. Wasim Baig, a hospital spokesman, told Reuters.
Senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said the blast seemed to be a suicide bomb and that investigations were underway for more information.
“The blast took place inside the railway station when the Peshawar-bound express was about to leave for its destination,” Baloch said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast at Quetta’s main railway station, which is usually busy early in the day.
In August, at least 73 people were killed in Balochistan province after separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways.
The assaults in August were the most widespread in years by militants fighting a decades-long insurgency to win secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine.