Health authorities working on a national cancer control plan

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Tuesday, announced that the health authorities were working on completing drafting a national cancer control plan which will be used in the efforts to curb the number of cancer patients in Maldives, within this year.

The announcement was made by HPA in its statement on occasion of World Cancer Day.

HPA said that it, in collaborating with other relevant institutions and non-governmental organizations, were engaged in multiple efforts to curb cancer cases in Maldives.

“As part of these efforts, work is underway to draft a national cancer control plan to aid in national efforts to control cancer,” said HPA.

HPA, in its statement, noted that 2016 records by Aasandha and NSPA shows the most common form of cancer in Maldives to be oral cancer. A further break down of the records show the most common forms of cancer suffered by men to be oral cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, stomach cancer and chest cancer, and the most common forms of cancer suffered by women to be oral cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer and thyroid cancer.

Meanwhile, a 2018 report by World Health Organization (WHO) the cause of 84 percent of mortalities due to disease in Maldives to be due to non-communicable diseases, 17 percent of which had been due to cancer.

According to WHO, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million deaths, or one in six deaths, in 2018.