By: Mahmoud Assamiee

IBB, July 18 (Saba)-Mohammad Hizam Ali al-Abyadh, 50, is the only son of his father who still alive after cancer has killed his mother, two brothers and recently his sister.

All these family members died because of gastrointestinal tumor. Mohammad and his father are free of cancer and enjoy good health. Mohammad's mother is from Bait al-Aradhi and his father is from Bait al-Abyadh. They are from Mawa.

Mawa is a small village located east of Yarim district and 10 kilometers away from the center of the district's local authority, Ibb governorate, Yemen. It is near to Dhafar, the historical capital of Himyarite kingdom which flourished during the second century BC. The whole area is tourist visited by people from across the world.

It is inhabited nearly by 500 people descended from six families; Bait al-Abyadh, Bait Shaddad, Bait al-Waqiah, Bait Qutabish, Bani Ata and Bait al-Aradhi. Almost all these families have cancer patients, roughly 25 cases in total.

In Bait Al-Abyadh alone, there are 15 cases of cancer. 12 cases have died and four are still alive. Two of them are still receiving treatment in Sana'a. Abdul-Ghani and his father Saleh al-Abyadh are in Mawa and receive their treatment every month from the cancer unit in Yarim.

Abdul-Ghani has G.I.T cancer and his father has throat cancer. Abdul-Ghani's mother and elder brother have also died by cancer. The mother died because of blood cancer and the brother because of G.I.T cancer. The father sold most of his land for treating first his late wife and son and now his son Abdul-Ghani and himself.

The rest cases are distributed between Bait Shaddad, 4 all died, Bait al-Waqiah, 2 died, Bait Qutabish 2 died, and two cases from Bani Ata, also died, according to Lotf al-Abyadh, a teacher and a dignitary in the village.

No indications of cancer causes

Farmers in the area do not grow qat, a stimulant tree Yemeni people chew their young leaves to give them energy, which farmers generally spray it with much quantities of pesticide to speed up production.

Instead, the people grow potato and corn, the corps which farmers used only fertilizers and ordinary pesticides used in most countries of the world. "The disease is an ordeal from Allah," said Mohammad al-Abyadh. "We eat what ordinary people eat and we live normal life like any ordinary people."

People use dirty water in a cistern

What is attracting attention in the village is the dirty water in a cistern located under the village. A visitor can find a bad smell coming out from this cistern which seems that it is receiving the water coming down from the bathrooms of the people living on the hill.

Women are found around the cistern washing clothes from that dirty water. People say they do not have other source of water but another well behind the village is not enough.

Medical viewpoint

Dr. Mohammad Derhim Kedesi, Radiation Oncologist at the National Oncology Center in Sana'a says there is something behind the spread of cancer in the village and this thing is still undiscovered.

He says that a study must be made on the whole village to discover this mysterious case. "Medical survey must be done to all families in the village."

"We have to exclude four basic things, radiation elements, dangerous chemical substances, hereditary diseases and infection with many viruses," he argued.

"Sure you will find one of these four factors in the village. There is a reason in one of these factors."

While many people and observers doubt the dirty water as the main apparent reason after excluding radiation, Dr. Kedesi excluded the dirty water as a cause of cancer.

"The dirty water does not cause cancer. Dirty water will kill you before you have cancer, you will die either by cholera or diarrhea," he affirmed. "But cancer needs long period of time to appear."

But he says the exposed dirty water in the cistern is more dangerous to people than cancer and that this problem must be controlled by concerned bodies, "many people have died by diarrhea."

He affirms that Yemen is one of the countries in the world in terms of increasing number of cancer cases. "Cancer is found in the world in ratio between 80-120 persons per 100,000. Yemen is nearing the 120."

He referred the increased level in Yemen to the lifestyle of the people and way of having their food and its nature, in addition to malnutrition. "Yemenis used to eat overcooked meals and there is no variation of meals."

No actual reaction from concerned bodies

Abdul-Ghani al-Abyadh blames concerned bodies of not doing their duties with them. He said he and his father almost paid all the cost of surgeries and are paying for medication. He says even he is a soldier in military forces he does not get support from the army.
"We sold most of all our lands to treat ourselves," he said.

Director of Health Office in Ebb governorate Abdulmalek Al-Sana'ani says they have not an idea about the spread of cancer in Yarim this way and only learnt about it after media has focused on it last month.

"We did not even receive a message from local authority in Yarim. If we received a notification, we would enact with it," he said.

But he added that Al-Thowra Hospital in Ibb and cancer treatments unit provide medications to the patients.

However Director of Yarim District Abdoh Othman Jahlan affirms that the village is free of any famous causes of cancer. He said that a team composing of doctors, officials and engineers from National Committee for Atomic Energy paid a field visit to the village to investigate the case.

"The team took samples of water and stones to find out if there is radiation," said Jahlan. "The team told us there is no radiation and if there is pollution in the cistern, leeches will not be found alive in it."

On the solution to the water problem, Jahlan said the government provided the people with a project for clean water and this will help people to stop use the dirty water in the cistern.

National Cancer Combating Foundation (NCCF) learnt about the case only last month after Al-Saeeda TV. Channel televised a report about the village. Until now they have not provided anything to patients' families.

"Our duty is to ring the bill of danger and educate people on the aftermaths of this danger," said Director of NCCF Ali Al-Khawlani.

But he said that they sent a team to the village composed of health officials, specialized doctors and engineer from the National Committee for Atomic Energy to investigate the case and then they will provide the help they can.

"We are opening the door to the patients to provide them with the help we can do," said Al-Khawlani.

Two years ago, the National Oncology Center (NOC) paid a field visit to the village to investigate the case and report on it. Head of NOC Dr. Nadeem Mohammad Saeed headed the team. But no concerned body has heard about the findings of the report or the report itself.

We have to have an idea about the results of the report and must be informed on these results to know the mystery, said Director of Yarim District Abdoh Jahlan.

Director of Health Office in Ebb Abdul-Malik Al-Sana'ani, who represents the ministry of health in the governorate, does not have an idea himself about the visit and the report.

If there is a report, we have to get a copy of it and its results to do our duty, said Al-Sana'ani, arguing that such case needs cooperation of all and integrated work from concerned bodies.

"I submitted the report to the Ministry of Health, the government body I am dealing with," said Head of NOC Dr. Nadeem Mohammad Saeed. “I visited the area with other five persons and examined the families and submitted the report to the deputy minister of health.”

But he argues that the genetic factor is a main reason of the spread of the disease, especially colon cancer. “We do not have scientific capabilities,” he said, referring the reasons of the spreading the disease to genetic factors.

The National Committee for Atomic Energy (NCAE) affirms the village is free of radiation.

“The report made by the committee on the village shows that there is no radiation pollution in the area,” said Dr. Ibrahim Abboud, the Office's Director of the General Secretary of the NCAE who received the report from the technician who visited the area.

The famous type of cancer spread in the village is gastrointestinal tumor. Most of Al-Abyadh family, which has the greatest number of cancer cases, roughly 15, died because of it. Liver cancer, head cancer and breast cancer are the most types spread in Yemen.

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