TEHRAN -- A total of 75 centers for early cancer detection were established across the country during the past Iranian calendar year (March 2018-March 2019), Ali Qanbari-Motlaq, head of the Health Ministry’s cancer control department said on Saturday.

The Health Ministry plans to increase the operating early cancer detection centers to 137 as soon as possible, he added, ISNA reported.
“Our most important goal is to identify people who are suspicious for cancer or have any family record of this disease.”
People who are suffering from cancer should receive medical treatment in a short time, which is possible through electronic health services, he said.

 Cancer, the third cause of death in Iran

After road accidents and cardiovascular diseases, cancer has been the third leading cause of death among Iranians during recent years.

However, the rate of cancer in Iran is less than developed countries or neighboring countries like Turkey, he noted.

The rate of cancer in Iran is 149.74 per 100,000 population (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) which is less than the global rate of 182 in 100,000 population.

As per the data collected by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent population health research center at UW Medicine, part of the University of Washington, some 54,000 Iranians died of cancer in 2016 constituting 14.9 percent of all deaths (360,000).

The IHME data also indicates that age-standardized rate of death caused by cancer per 100,000 people per year in Iran was 104 in 1990 which has decreased to 97 in 2015.

According to the latest data released by the Health Ministry in early June, a total of 108,798 new cases of cancer were diagnosed during the calendar year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016) in Iran, of which 58,092 ones (53.4 percent) were men and 50,706 (46.6 percent) were women.

There were 112,000 cancer patients in the year 1393, including 60,432 (53.9 percent) men and 51,628 (46.1 percent) women. According to the statistics, 149.74 per 100,000 population suffer from cancer, including 156.95 men and 134.43 women per 100,000 population.

Breast cancer (32.9 percent), prostate cancer (16.93 percent), nonmelanoma skin cancer (14.6 percent), gastric cancer (13.70 percent) and colorectal cancer (13.31 percent) are the most common cancers in the country.

SB/MG