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Reach for THE 16TH REACH TO RECOVERY CONFERENCE "REACH TOWARDS A NEW HORIZON" TAIPEI, TAIWAN 10-12 NOVEMBER 2011 Alice Lee (Hamilton), Deidre Parr (Auckland), Dr Chris Walsh and Sue Ellis (Wellington), were very fortunate to attend the Reach to Recovery breast cancer conference which is held every two years, this time in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. We met some great breast cancer survivors and listened to some interesting plenary speakers and presentations. Taiwan (once known as Formosa, a Portuguese name), has a population of approximately 23 million, with 2.6 million of those living in Taipei. The conference was hosted by the Formosa Cancer Foundation, Taiwan Breast Cancer Alliance and the Taiwan Breast Cancer Foundation. The conference began with a welcome reception held at Taipei's Recovery City Hall. There was a lot of energy and excitement amongst the delegates - their excited noise drowned out any of the official speakers (and the local choir of breast cancer survivors), and the rush to get access to food was a stampede!! It was a precursor for the days ahead! On the first morning, delegates were all treated to statistics about the numbers attending and each country's flag was put up on the screen with the number of attendees. Thirty four countries were represented. Taiwan had the largest group (430), Malaysia had a big presence (111), Australia (26). Smaller numbers came from Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Namibia, Nigeria, UK, Malta and Zambia with all these having two representatives. The woman travelling the longest (34 hours) to get to Taipei was from Bermuda. It took the Kiwis 23 hours. We were advised that there were over 700 delegates registered for the conference. Somehow this increased to just under 1000 on the night of the gala dinner when we were told that this was the largest ever Reach to Recovery conference. Sixty posters and 70 speakers were on the programme. Chris and Sue were lucky to have a poster presentation accepted which they did on the Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition web-based videos. They put the poster up and arranged 40 small ketes around. Once people realised they were free Chris and Sue were literally mobbed by delegates rushing to get theirs. The poster itself generated a lot of interest and their flyers flew out the door! Chris also did a presentation on the web-based videos and the number of delegates attending enjoyed the presentation which generated interesting questions. The language barrier was challenging and the nuances of Kiwi humor were reduced because of this! Examples of the large number of speakers and presentations: Breast Cancer in Taiwan One of the speakers from the first plenary sessions was Dr Shu-Ti- Chiou, Director of the Taiwan Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health. She spoke with a lot of passion and commitment on the need to increase the uptake of breast cancer screening. Breast cancer is the number one cancer in Taiwan and this is increasing at an alarming rate, especially among young women (median age 47 years compared to the USA with 58 years). In 2008, 8,136 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. They have funding of $US40.7M for a screening programme (taken from tobacco surcharge tax!). The current uptake is at 11% and the aim is to raise this to 44% by 2015. They increased the number of mammography machines from 87 in 2008 to 232 today. They now have all hospitals in the country certified to screen and a mobile bus for outreach, with positive confirmation follow-up within one month. Young Female Breast Cancer in Asia This was a very interesting presentation by Dr Ling-Min Tseng, a surgeon from Taiwan. He noted that breast cancer is increasing significantly (eg. more than 100% in the last 3 years) in developed Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan, with mortality rates increasing dramatically each year. He posited the increased western lifestyle and eating [red] meat more. So, why? He suggested the following possibilities: a. Maybe unique environmental factors b. The interaction of genetic and environmental factors may contribute to why young women are getting breast cancer c. Average daily nonylphenol intake is four-fold and 8.5 fold higher than those in Germany and NZ. Detected in 30% of young Taiwanese girl's urine d. Extensive use of plastic materials e. Pollutants – estrogenic effect. The next Reach to Recovery conference will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2013. Many of the presentations at this conference are now available at http://www.reachtorecovery2011.org Highest Strength NZ Brand RESVERATROL Save $50 Only $99.95 Order the Triple Pack k Six month supply 180 capsules • Each capsule provides 75 mg of standardised Resveratrol • Professional Formulation • Plus 50 mg Grapeseed Extract • Rich in Polyphenols • Boost Healthy Ageing ct www.realnutrients.co.nz Order online 4 Antares Place, Albany, Auckland Free Phone 0508 OMEGA3 Real Nutrition