TEHRAN – The Ministry of Health has launched a plan aimed at preventing the three most common cancers among women, namely breast, colorectal, and cervical cancers.

These cancers are the most preventable cancers and at the same time they account for 40 percent of cancers among women and 25 percent of cancers both among men and women, ISNA quoted Ali Qanbari-Motlaq, a health ministry official, as saying.

The pilot phase of the plan was carried out in 2016 and 2017, he said, adding that in 2018, the development plan of the first phase started.

He pointed out that almost 150,000 people in the country are diagnosed with cancer every year.

Countries are divided into five categories for cancer incidence, and Iran is at the average level in this regard, he noted.

World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day held every 4 February is the global uniting initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). 

By raising worldwide awareness, improving education, and catalyzing personal, collective, and government action, the initiative aims to encourage people work together to reimagine a world where millions of preventable cancer deaths are saved and access to life-saving cancer treatment and care is equitable for all - no matter who they or where they live.

Created in 2000, World Cancer Day has grown into a positive movement for everyone, everywhere to unite under one voice to face one of the greatest challenges in history.

Each year, hundreds of activities and events take place around the world, gathering communities, organizations, and individuals in schools, businesses, hospitals, marketplaces, parks, community halls, and places of worship - in the streets and online - acting as a powerful reminder that we all have a role to play in reducing the global impact of cancer.

While we live in a time of awe-inspiring advancements in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, many of us who seek cancer care hit barriers at every turn. 

Income, education, geographical location, and discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, and lifestyle are just a few of the factors that can negatively affect care.

So, this year's World Cancer Day's theme, “Close the Care Gap”, is all about celebrating progress in its many forms that enable more people to seek and receive the care they need and deserve. It is about providing the momentum to fuel our fight for fairness.

CAR T-cell therapy

In November 2022, the first phase of a national project aiming to take advantage of gene therapy for the treatment of children with cancer, known as "CAR T-cell therapy", came on stream.

The project was inaugurated in the presence of Ruhollah Dehghani Firoozabadi, the vice president for science and technology, IRNA reported.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a way to get immune cells called T cells (a type of white blood cell) to fight cancer by changing them in the lab so they can find and destroy cancer cells.

CAR T-cell therapy has been successful on a five-year-old boy suffering from chemotherapy-resistant leukemia.

The project took nearly seven years to be implemented, Amir Ali Hamidiyeh, head of the gene, cell, and tissue research institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences said.

After passing cell studies and preclinical studies on animals and obtaining a license and code of ethics from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, a gene therapy product was used for a patient for the first time in the country, he added.

The method is currently in the clinical trial stage and was used on a child with leukemia who was resistant to all treatment methods, he highlighted.

National cancer control program

With the support of the World Health Organization, the national cancer control program has been developed, which sets out the Ministry of Health’s roadmap up to the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025-March 2026).

The purpose of the program is to reduce cancer prevalence and mortality while improving the quality of patients’ lives, which can serve as a model for other countries, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The program includes two important documents, namely, “development of national cancer care network” and “development of cancer human resources”, which resulted in the establishment of the early diagnostic centers.

First ion therapy center in West Asia

In July 2021, Iran inaugurated an advanced ion therapy center for the first time in West Asia, with the aim of providing definitive treatment for all types of cancer.

Ion therapy is a unique and innovative form of radiation therapy in the world for the treatment of cancer, as the radiation can be focused exactly on the area of the tumor, ensuring that radiation-sensitive organs are best protected.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, said some 200 million Euros have been allocated to equip the center.

The center is unique in West Asia and is the seventh hospital in the world to be built with advanced equipment, he added.

MG