RAMALLAH, February 4, 2018 (WAFA) – Cancer was the second main cause of death in Palestine during 2016, said the Ministry of Health in a special report on the World Cancer Day.

It said cancer was the second cause of death in 2016 accounting for 14% of the total deaths, after cardiovascular diseases which account for 30.6% of all causes of death.

Palestine also witnessed a noticeable increase in cancer cases from 1073 cases in 2000 to 2536 in 2016 in the West Bank alone, and 59.1% of these cases appeared among the youth age group between 15 and 64 years, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, 35.7% of cancer cases were among the elderly above 65 years, while 5.2% of such cases prevailed among children below the age of 15.

In terms of the geographical distribution of the cases documented in 2016, the highest percentage was in Bethlehem governorate, where 160.1 among 100,000 people were diagnosed with cancer, followed by Jericho governorate where 123.2 cases per 100,000 people were infected with the disease. The least such percentage was in Jerusalem governorate, where 13.8 persons among 100,000 people were infected with cancer.

Breast cancer ranked first among other cancers reported in 2016, with 388 cases of breast cancer were documented, amounting to 15.3% of total cancer cases reported in the West Bank. The colon cancer ranked second at 10.3%, followed by Leukemia at 8.4%, lung cancer at 8.3% and brain cancer at 5% of the total cases.

The study revealed that 32% of the cases of breast cancer occurred in Hebron governorate during 2016, the highest percentage among the other governorates, while the lowest percentage was in Jenin governorate at 2%.

M.N.