Kenyan doctor is winner of Young Scientist Award in Seoul

A Kenyan doctor is the winner of Young Scientist of the Year Award the IFOS 2013 Congress Scientific Secretariat held in Seoul, Korea. Dr Owen Pyeko Menach was feted at the 20th World Congress of the International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (IFOS), held from June 1 to 5, 2013 in Seoul, Korea. Dr Menach, an ENT Surgeon at Kenyatta National Hospital, beat 100 entrants to clinch the coveted award at the global congregation of Ear, Nose and Throat specialist doctors held once every four years Dr Menach He emerged first beating 100 global finalists. “Cancer of the Larynx cases are a worrying trend in Central and Eastern provinces largely because of the high incidence of cigarette smoking and alcohol intake,” Dr Menach told theNation in an interview after receiving the award. Dr Menach presented a paper on the rising incidence of cancer of the larynx in the third world which parallels increased smoking and alcohol drinking habits. The paper challenges the formation of cancer registries that will encourage better policy formulation and reduction of head and neck cancer in general Titled, ‘Demography and Histologic pattern of Laryngeal Squamous cell carcinoma in an African population,” His research also indicated that this particular cancer is a predominantly a male disease because cancer was only present in four per cent of the respondents. According to Dr Menach, cancer cases have however been steadily rising due to the increasing prevalence of cigarette smoking. “Among the cases, majority of them came from Central Kenya (46 per cent) followed by Eastern province (16 per cent) then Rift Valley province at 16 per cent Nyanza and Western provinces followed with eight per cent and six per cent respectively,” said Dr Menach. Nyanza province had the least prevalence of cigarette smoking at 7.9 per cent, he added. Previous surveys have corroborated the findings that prevalence of cigarette smoking has been shown to be highest in Eastern and Central Provinces. “The rise in the prevalence of cancer of the larynx may increase considering the rising prevalence of smoking in this population,” said Dr Menach citing surveys done in Kenya show that the highest prevalence is among men in the 45-49 age brackets. “It is quite worrying that 13 per cent of schooling children smoke cigarettes and just like in adults, boys smoke more than girls,” the ENT surgeon said. If not checked, there is likelihood of increased cancer burden in this population corresponding to the shifting trends and rising prevalence of cigarette smoking in this population,” he warned. Globally, about a fifth of the world’s population smoke cigarettes and these figures are increasing exponentially due to extensive and aggressive marketing done by cigarette manufacturing companies. The hospital-based case-control study where the respondents demographic data including age, sex, region of origin, occupation as well as smoking and alcohol intake habits were documented. The youngest age for the respondents with cancer was 42 and while the oldest 84 years.-nation.co.ke