Cervical, breast cancers continue as leading killers

By GLORIA BAUAI
CERVICAL and breast cancers continue to be a leading killer in Papua New Guinea based on the Angau National Cancer Services’ tumour registry in Lae, Morobe.
Despite showing a decline in breast cancer deaths over the last three years compared to cervical and oral (mouth and tongue) cancers, registry team member Timothy Kink said this decrease was only because a patient’s status was unknown as the majority were not returning for reviews for personal reasons.
Kink said the tumour registry was established in 2015 by the Health Department, under the division of non-communicable disease (NCD) and to date only had records for patients who attended the Angau cancer clinic.
The Angau clinic deals mainly with referrals from the Momase and Highlands.
“It would be better if the five regions of the country or each provincial general hospitals had their own tumour registry available to know exactly how many people are diagnosed with cancer and the incident dates and rates of cancer in the country,” he said.
According to Angau’s registry, the highest number of recorded deaths for breast cancer was 16 in 2016, cervical cancer deaths amounted to 27 in 2017, and there were 25 recorded deaths from oral cancer in 2017.
Over the last five years, people in the age group range of 40-49 were showing more cases of the three common cancers – oral, breast and cervical cancer.
Angau radiation therapist Julie Cecil said more young people between the ages of 20 to 29, and even younger, were now being diagnosed with cancer. She attributed this to poor lifestyle choices and lack of breast feeding practice, particularly for breast cancer cases.
“Young working mothers should breastfeed their children at least every three hours for babies who are infants up to three years old,” she said.