Tambuling Batangas Publication November 21-27, 2018 Issue | Page 5

OPINYON
November 21-27, 2018
US to test Cuban vaccine against lung
cancer
HAVANA, Cuba — Diplomatic
ties between Cuba and the United
States may be strained but the two
countries are standing shoulder
to shoulder to fight a common
enemy: cancer.

The first biotechnical
collaboration
between
the
two countries is aiming to test
the effectiveness of a Cuban
treatment for lung cancer to see
whether it could be used for US
patients.

Although still in the
test stage, the CIMAvax-EGF
treatment has made a lot of noise
over the last few months, even
before the announcement of this
unprecedented partnership.

Various internet sites
have claimed it’s a miracle cure,
but experts say the truth is more
complex than that.

According to Orestes
Santos, a researcher at Havana’s
molecular immunology center,
rather than a vaccination, the
treatment involves the “active
immunology” of the so-called
EGF, or epidermal growth factor,
protein that stimulates cell
growth.

“The
lung
cancer
tumor needs EGF to grow and
proliferate, and what we’ve done
in our center is develop a product
that generates antibodies against
this protein,” Santos told AFP.

“It’s an extra weapon in
the fight against cancer, which
combines with other therapeutic
weapons like chemotherapy.”

Interested by their work,
the Roswell Park Comprehensive
Cancer Center, in Buffalo, New
York, formed a partnership with
the Cuban center during a US
business mission to the island
nation in 2015. That year the two
Cold War foes restored diplomatic
relations after decades of enmity.

Looking for approval

“The Cuban-American
enterprise aims to finance the
development (of treatment) and
bring about new, bigger and
more complete clinical tests on
American soil,” said Kalet Leon
Monzon, assistant director at the
molecular immunology center.

The aim is to have the
treatment registered by American
health authorities so it can be
used on patients in the country.

The treatment, which
has been administered by monthly
injections at the Cuban center
since 2011, has already been
approved in Bosnia, Paraguay,
Peru, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

“More
than
5,000
people worldwide use active
immunology with CIMAvax,”
said Dr. Soraida Acosta Brooks,
president of the clinical tests
26th Nat’l Children’s Month
celebration focuses on positive
discipline
By Lucia F. Broño
PASAY CITY—The Council for
the Welfare of Children (CWC)
led the 26th National Children’s
Month kick-off celebration on
Monday, November 5, 2018 at
the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay
City.
The event was attended by more
than 6,000 children and adult
participants coming from the
different government agencies,
local government units (LGUs),
child-caring non-government
organizations (NGOs) and civil
society organizations (CSOs).
CWC
Executive
Director Mitzi Cajayon Uy
delivered the 1st State of the
Children Address (SOCA)
citing 2015 National Baseline
Study on Violence Against
Children (NBS-VAC) revealing
that most Filipino children
experience and are vulnerable
to physical, psycho-social and
sexual violence and these are
significantly high in homes
where parents, siblings and
caregivers are oftentimes the
perpetrators. The NBS-VAC
also revealed that prevalence
of violence in schools is almost
equally disturbing.

Her SOCA mainly
focused on the four components
as specified in the United
Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UN-
CRC), which are Survival,
Protection,
Development, and Participation.
“It takes a village to raise a
child. Let us all work together
to end these violence against
children so that they will
become productive citizens of
our country. Let us all push for
positive parenting and positive
discipline,” Cajayon said.

DSWD Undersecretary
Mae Fe Ancheta- Templa who
delivered Secretary Rolando D.
The Anak Culiat Children’s Theater Group performs during the kickoff event of the 26th National Childrens Month
celebration. (Photo by Lucia F. Broño/PIA-NCR)
department in a hospital in
Santiago de Cuba.

As it turns out, medical
and
scientific
cooperation
between the two countries has
always
transcended
official
relations.
Despite
the
US
economic embargo on Cuba
implemented in 1962, “it’s one of
the last diplomatic levers that was
maintained,” says Nils Graber, a
PhD student in anthropology at
the school of higher education in
social sciences in Paris.

“American researchers
participated in Cuban conferences
and Cuban scientists were trained
in the United States.”
No miracle cure

Cuba has been a pioneer
in the fight against cancer, says
Graber, who has written a thesis
on the island nation’s scientific
innovation.

But he says that
“media treatment of Cuba is
still binary and Manichean,
with announcements of the
discovery of a miracle cure…
and on the other side articles that
immediately try to discredit the
Cuban research.”

When it comes to
CIMAvax, “it’s untrue. There’s
no miraculous cure developed in
Cuba. It’s similar to what’s being
done elsewhere.”
All over the world,
many researchers are studying
immunology — the science of
activating the immune system —
to tackle cancer.

A pair of immunologists,
an American and a Japanese, won
the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine this year “for their
discovery of cancer therapy by
inhibition of negative immune
regulation.”

But CIMAvax rests
on “a unique mechanism” as it
“starves the cancerous cells,”
according to Doug Plessinger,
head of scientific development at
Roswell Park.

But there is still much
work to be done.

The results from the
first tests on 30 American
patients, recently revealed at a
lung cancer congress in Toronto,
are “very encouraging” but
researchers recognize the need
to produce a wider sample group
to conclusively demonstrate the
effectiveness of the technique.

Professor Fabrice Andre,
from the Gustave-Roussey cancer
research institute near Paris,
says the “difference between
the survival of vaccinated and
non-vaccinated patients isn’t
considered sufficiently great for
the community to state that the
vaccination works.”
Bautista’s message emphasized
that the department will
continue to intensify its efforts
in collaboration with partner-
agencies and NGOs towards
building a safe, nurturing,
and protective environment
for children through positive
discipline
among
parents,
guardians, caregivers, and
teachers.

The
activity
was
highlighted by the unveiling
of 3rd National Plan of
Action for Children (NPAC)
and the Symbolic Pledge of
Support for Positive Parenting/
Positive Discipline both led by
DSWD Undersecretary Mae-
Fe Ancheta-Templa, CWC
Executive
Director
Mitch
Cajayon-Uy, and NYC Assistant
Secretary Victor A. Del Rosario,
together with officials from
partner-government agencies
and NGOs.

November is declared
National Children’s Month as
stated in Republic Act 10661 to
commemorate the adoption of
the Convention on the Rights
of the Child by the United
Nations General Assembly on
November 20, 1980.

The celebration seeks to
increase knowledge of parents/
caregivers on how to handle or
educate their children while in
the cyberspace; intensify the
advocacy of positive discipline
in classrooms dynamics in
daily teaching; provide space
for children’s participation
in the legislative advocacy;
push for the passage of the
Positive Discipline Bill and
celebrate gains and successes
on child rights promotions and
protection of the country.
Positive
discipline,
as stipulated in the Bill is
disciplining children without
resorting to physical or corporal
punishment, such as spanking,
hitting, slapping, shouting, or shaming.

Another
priority
legislative
measure
being
supported by DSWD, CWC
and child-caring institutions
is the proposed “Positive and
Non-Violent Discipline of
Children Act” which seeks
to promote positive and non-
violent discipline of children
and protect them from physical,
humiliating or degrading acts as
a form of punishment.

As defined in the
bill, positive and non-violent
discipline refers to a holistic,
constructive and pro-active
approach to parenting or
teaching that helps children
develop appropriate thinking
and behavior in the short and
long terms and is based on the
principles of children’s rights,
child development, and effective
teaching. Physical, humiliating
or degrading act as a form of
punishment refers to any form
of punishment or discipline in
which physical force is used
and intended to cause pain or
discomfort or non-physical
act that causes a child to feel
belittled, denigrated, threatened
or ridiculed.

This year’s theme
“Isulong: Tamang Pag-aaruga
sa Lahat ng Bata,” is a call
to stop all forms of violence
on children and pushes for a
safe, nurturing and protective
environment for them through
positive discipline.

The theme is also
aligned with the key strategies of
the Philippine Plan of Action to
End Violence Against Children
(PPAEVAC) 2017-2022 which
translates the findings of the
2015
Philippine
National
Baseline Study on Violence
Against Children (NBS-VAC)
into specific action. (PIA-NCR)