BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cancer patients in Brunei have increased by 17 percent from 2014 to 2018, compared to the period of between 2009 to 2013, Health Minister Haji Mohammad Isham said on Tuesday.
According to the minister's message on World Cancer Day, which falls on Tuesday, about 644 nationals and permanent residents of Brunei Darussalam were diagnosed with cancer and the number of cancer deaths in the same year was 304 in 2018.
In other words, cancer illnesses accounted for about one in four (28 percent) of deaths among citizens and permanent residents of the country in 2018. The number of cancer patients has also represented a 17-percent increase over the past 5 years from 2014-2018 compared to 2009-2013.
The minister also cited 2018 statistics, saying that the lifetime risks of developing cancer were 29 percent, or one in three, for a woman in Brunei and 27 percent, or one in four, for a man.
The statistics showed that the highest rates of cancer in women were breast cancer (100 cases), colorectal cancer (49 cases) and cervical cancer (32 cases).
In men, the highest rates were colorectal (53 cases), lungs (25 cases), and liver and prostate (both 18 cases).
"In conjunction with World Cancer Day, Brunei Darussalam is involved in the active participation to raise awareness, as well as taking action and measures to prevent and reduce the effects of cancer," Haji Mohammad Isham said in the message.
