MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The Manchester-based Northern Caribbean University (NCU) recently received a boost in its cancer research following a donation of $1.5 million by the Carnegie Foundation.

Director of NCU’s cancer research unit Dr Kacey Reid said NCU is working towards being well equipped to advance cancer research to another level.

“We believe that here on this campus is the expertise, the knowledge and most of all, the will to move our research to the next level. We believe that it is time to really uncover, develop and standardise the anti-tumour… and the anti-inflammatory potentials of our plants,” he said at the Carnegie Foundation annual lecture series at NCU last Thursday.

The university’s Professor Paul Gyles was credited for developing the commercial potential of sorrel which research has shown that it contains anti-cancer agents.

He pointed out that herbal medicine is vital to treating cancer.

“There is a widely held belief that natural alternative approaches offer less side effects and in some cases could be more effective,” he said.

He said Jamaica has a high mortality rate for prostate cancer.

“The worrying fact is that cancer continues to rise and specifically in poor countries like ourselves where access to the latest cancer treatment is often difficult… The top three cancers in Jamaica are prostate, breast and colon cancers, but perhaps even more worrying is that for a country our size the age standard for life mortality rate for prostate cancer puts us at number three in the world,” he said.

“The scenario is not better for breast cancer and colon cancer. We are ranked at 24 and 39, respectively, in the world in terms of the mortality caused by these cancers. The fact of the matter is that there needs to be a specific and a focused response to this threat caused by cancer,” he added.

Dr Reid said the conventional treatments for cancer are not enough.

“It is continued and sustained research that will help us…move forward to that point where we can find lasting cures for cancer,” he said.

“The conventional approaches to cancer include chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy and these have been very successful. We have moved from the days where chemotherapy was almost a death sentence given the amount of side effects that are associated with treatment… Despite the advances and successes of these conventional treatments the statistics continue to show that the curative rates fall well below our desired expectations,” he added.

Beverley Henry, a director at the Carnegie Foundation, said the donation towards research is necessary in treating cancer.

“Our research has demonstrated to us what can be done with natural products and the proper scientific equipment…We are pleased to present to you [NCU] $1.5 million towards research,” she said.

Launched in 2007, the Carnegie Foundation is also to honour the memory of Ethlyn Sybil Carnegie for what is described as her dedication to humanity in the field of nursing and the pursuit of excellence in health-care services.

Family members say she died from lung cancer in 1992.