ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Cancer rate is on a sharp rise in the Kurdistan Region, with a diagnosis occurring every hour in the last year, according to data obtained by Rudaw.
In 2023, about 9,911 diagnosis cases were recorded across the Kurdistan Region, bringing the diagnosis rate to 27 cases per day or a diagnosis about every 53 minutes.
Among the most common types of cancer in the region, breast cancer tops the charts.
“Breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer are among the most common types of cancer in the Kurdistan Region. The leading type among men is lung cancer, which is primarily caused by smoking,” Chinar Sinjawi, the head of the cancer control department at the Kurdistan Region’s ministry of health, told Rudaw last week.
Statistics show Erbil has 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.
The current year’s statistics indicate a continuous rise in cancer in the region: 9,061 cases in 2022, 7,904 cases in 2021, and 6,293 cases in 2020.
As cancer rates rise, there is a shortage of treatment facilities.
In Sulaimani province, Hiwa Hospital is the only facility offering cancer treatment, drawing patients from across Iraq and the Kurdish regions of Syria, Turkey, and Iran.
In June, Hars Mohammed, head of Kalar General Hospital, estimated that establishing a specialized cancer hospital would require one billion Iraqi dinars (around $763,000) after it was reported that the absence of a specialized center in the Garmiyan administration of southern Sulaimani province was impacting patient care.
The current rate of cancer is 151 cases per 100,000 people in the Kurdistan Region, the health ministry announced on Friday. This is more than twice the 73 cases per 100,000 people recorded in 2013.
The ministry said this rate of diagnoses is below the global average. In 2022, the global cancer rate was 196.9 cases per 100,000 people, according to World Cancer Research Fund data.
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