Alarm at cancer toll

 THERE are 3,500 new cases of cancer documented annually in the country, Pacific International Hospital head of obstetrics and gynaecology, Dr Mathias Sapuri says.

Sapuri said during a press conference over the weekend, the number of women dying from pregnancy-related issues had been overtaken by cancer. 

He said women were now dying from cancer because of the change in lifestyle. 

He said there were four leading gynaecological cancers in the country and they included cervical, ovarian, breast and womb cancer (endometrial).

Sapuri said 1,500 deaths annually could be attributed to the four cancers. 

A host of factors were related to these types of cancers but they were mainly caused by the change in an individual’s life style, he said.

“In the past, a lot of women died from infectious diseases, however, infectious diseases are becoming a lesser problem to us now and lifestyle diseases are becoming a problem,” he said. 

He said there were 2.9 million cancer deaths worldwide, with more than 230,000 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year.

 Half of that number succumbed to the disease, he said.

The prevalence and incidence of cervical cancer was on the rise in South-east Asia, Africa, South America and the Pacific with an alarming rate at its highest level in the past 30 years, Sapuri said. 

He said this was a major concern for the Health Department, the government.