The number of cancer cases in the Kingdom rose in 2009, with colon and breast cancer topping the list among men and women.
A total of 4,815 new cancer cases were registered in 2009, compared with 4,606 the previous year, a Health Ministry official said on Monday.
Mohammad Tarawneh, director of the ministry’s non-communicable diseases directorate, said the most prevalent cancer among males was cancer of the colon with 296 cases, followed by lung cancer with 256 cases.
Breast cancer topped female cancers with 926 cases, followed by colon cancer with 264 cases, according to preliminary figures he presented yesterday at a press conference to mark World Cancer Day, observed on February 4.
Tarawneh said the ministry is in the process of establishing a national programme for colon cancer, similar to the National Breast Cancer Programme, to encourage early detection of the disease.
“Since 30-40 per cent of cancers are preventable, it is of vital importance that people are informed and educated with knowledge that could decrease their chances of developing cancer and in turn decrease the global cancer burden,” Feras Hawari, director of the King Hussein Cancer Centre’s (KHCC) Cancer Control Office told reporters.
He noted that the KHCC, in cooperation with partners, will focus on prevention this year, in addition to educating people on risk factors, which include smoking and obesity.
WHO Representative and Chief of Mission in Jordan Hashim El Zein said cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular diseases.
“WHO is currently leading efforts to study cancer risk factors through its specialised cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Knowledge about the causes of cancer, and interventions to prevent and manage the disease are extensive,” he noted.
Zein announced that on the occasion of World Cancer Day, WHO released the new global recommendations on physical activity for health, which state that “undertaking 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity can reduce the risk of breast and colon cancers”.
World Cancer Day was initiated in 2005 by the Union for International Cancer Control. This year it falls in the lead-up to the September 2011 UN General Assembly high-level meeting on the prevention and control of cancers and the three other deadliest types of non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes).
These four diseases cause more than 60 per cent of all global deaths, equivalent to more than 35 million annually, according to a WHO statement.
According to Hawari, the KHCC chose “Cancer can be prevented too” as the continuing theme for World Cancer Day for the second year in a row.
By Khetam Malkawi
Jordan Times