Beware of social media messages on diseases

I happen to be on several WhatsApp groups. I have many times read terrifying materials and I am sure others have read them too.
Recently, I viewed two videos - one from a doctor at the University of Copenhagen and another from a professor in Japan - advising peopled not take drugs because drugs are dangerous!
They advised people to eat fruits and vegetables and that all diseases and ailments would disappear! This is quite ridiculous because most diseases are caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi.

How can eating fruits and vegetables cure diseases like malaria, pneumonia, diabetes, hypertension, HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis? Whereas fruits and vegetables have great importance in providing vitamins that protect our bodies from diseases, they can’t replace anti-microbial drugs in treating diseases mentioned above.

I have also read circulating materials quoting doctors from Harvard University, Cuba, and Germany, among others, advising cancer patients not take chemotherapy, but instead take half lemon, mixed with beat root and a quarter apple.
That if this juice is taken every morning and evening, it will cure all types of cancers! I am told some cancer patients have abandoned chemotherapy and opted for the treatments they read on WhatsApp. This is very dangerous and must be discouraged.

First, nobody should take medication because a professor at Harvard or from anywhere else has said so. All medications are documented in peer-reviewed medical journals; and have been tested through well designed studies.
Patients have been followed over time and cure/survival rates recorded in journals and text books. Therefore, before patients make decisions on treatment choices, they should contact the health workers caring for them.
For example, treatment of cancer depends on which stage it is diagnosed, the site where the cancer is and the type of cancer. For some cancers, surgery is the treatment of choice, others chemotherapy or radiotherapy or a combination of any of these.

The most important aspect for cancer is early diagnosis where treatment and cure have better chances. As earlier recommended, fruits like lemon, beet root and apples are good sources of vitamins that help body metabolism and protecting us from diseases but can’t be a replacement for conventional treatment of cancers.
Cancers and non-communicable diseases are on the increase in Uganda and elsewhere in the world. Diseases like diabetes, gout, arthritis and hypertension are sometimes called life-style diseases. They occur because of what we eat, drink and how much exercise we do on a daily basis.

Recently, a survey on non-communicable diseases in Uganda showed that hypertension (high blood pressure) was high at 24 per cent and 75 per cent of people who had it did not know about it.
I, therefore, advise men and women to go for regularly health check-ups and screen for hypertension, diabetes; and cancers of the cervix, breast, pancreas, liver, Kaposi, prostate, colo-rectal and oesophagus, all of which are common in Uganda. As the old adage goes: “Prevention is better than cure.”