ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Sulaimani’s cancer registration department on Tuesday released the statistics for 2024 which show that over 3,000 new patients have been diagnosed with cancer, with 201 of them being children.
The statistics show that breast cancer patients lead the charts with 19.5 percent of all cases, followed by lung cancer with seven percent, prostate cancer, and colon cancer.
An oncologist in Erbil blamed air pollution for the high cancer rates in the Kurdistan Region.
“Although much research is needed to prove the cause of the increase in cancer, preliminary data suggest that air pollution is the leading cause,” Dr. Hawro Taha, oncologist and head of cancer cases department at Nanakali Hospital in Erbil told Rudaw on Tuesday.
Additionally, 6.10 percent of cancer patients were children, 54.60 percent were male, and 45.40 percent were female. The report also showed that 91.8 percent of the cancer patients were from Sulaimani, 5.9 percent from other Iraqi cities, and 2.4 percent from other cities in the Kurdistan Region.
Cancer rates in the Kurdistan Region have more than doubled over the last decade, according to statistics from the health ministry in November.
Last year, statistics showed Erbil had the lion’s share, with 55 percent of the recorded diagnoses, followed by Sulaimani at 33 percent and Duhok and Halabja province at 12 percent.
