Damascus-Sana
With the aim of spreading awareness of cancer and striving to reduce deaths resulting from it, countries around the world celebrate World Cancer Day on February 4 of each year, as health awareness is essential to prevent it, with increasing warnings of WHO experts about expectations that cancer will become more common in numbers reaching about 30 million new cases per year by 2040 as the world population grows.
In Syria, the Ministry of Health continues to provide free treatment to patients despite the challenges of the current circumstances, the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed on the country and the repercussions of the so-called "Caesar Law", which affected various areas of life, including the provision of generic medicines for those with chronic diseases, including cancer patients, according to the Director of Communicable and Chronic Diseases in The Ministry, Dr. Jamal Khamis.
Dr. Khamis assured in a statement to SANA that the Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministries of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Defense and Interior, and in coordination with the National Committee for Cancer Control, provides prevention, diagnosis and treatment services in addition to free psychological support for patients through 20 hospitals, noting that various types of drug treatments for cancer patients are provided despite The great difficulties facing this, pointing out that the Ministry receives all government support to secure medicine in cooperation with a number of friendly countries, international organizations and local pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Khamis indicated that according to the ministry’s statistics for the year 2020, 17,300 new cases were recorded, at a rate of 90 new cases per hundred thousand of the population, a number close to the numbers recorded in neighboring countries, indicating that locally there is one death due to cancer out of every six deaths, as well as most types of cancer. Breast cancer is more common in women, while lung cancer appears more common in men.
Dr. Khamis noted the importance of early detection campaigns for breast, prostate and cervical cancers, in terms of awareness that early detection contributes to ensuring the increase in recovery rates, the detection of new cases and the provision of treatment in a timely manner.
Dr. Khamis indicated that due to the circumstances of the spread of the Corona epidemic, awareness-raising activities about the risks and causes of the disease were limited to directed messages posted on social media, explaining that the awareness-raising activities on the importance of implementing Corona prevention measures for chronic disease sufferers, including cancer patients, were intense in hospitals and treatment centers because they are among the most groups. Dangerous in case of infection with the emerging virus due to weak immunity.
The World Health Organization stated that a third of cancer cases occur as a result of behaviors such as smoking, lack of physical activity, being overweight, and not eating fruits and vegetables. Cancer is one of the most common diseases worldwide, especially in low and middle-income countries, and it kills millions of people annually.