Cancer Among Malaysians (Statistics)

The Star on Wednesday gave the following statistics based on the National Cancer Registry Report 2006 for Malaysia. These stats could be useful to some as prevention is always better than cure. Or early detection helps save lifes..

Common cancer affecting men: those affecting the large bowel, lung, nasopharynx, prostate and liver.
Common cancer affecting women:  breast cancer, followed by large bowel, cervix, ovarian and thyroid.

Almost 32,000 new cancer cases were expected to be detected this year (2010) with females making up 53.7% of them, said the Minister of Health, Liow Tiong Lai. The stats shows more women being diagnosed for cancer is nothing new. Women are more sensitive of changes in their bodies and thus, more women go for check-ups than men. Men, on the other hand, often have to be coerced by their female partners or family members to go for check-ups.

It was quoted that “Based on the latest National Cancer Registry Report 2006, cancer incidence for males was 99.8 per 100,000 population and for females it was 120 per 100,000 people.Cancer prevalence is highest among the Chinese (161 per 100,000 population), followed by Indians (93) and Malays (72). Again these stats have to be taken with a pinch of salt. More Chinese are reported to be afflicted by cancer because more Chinese seek treatment at the hospitals compared to other races.The rest may not enter the system, hence they are not part of the stats.

It was also reported that in childhood cancer, leukemia was the most common (35.6%) , followed by cancer of the brain and nervous system (10.1%) and bone cancer (8.3%). About 500 cases of childhood cancer is expected this year(2010). Cancer incidence in 2006 among children (0 to 14 years) was 4.5 per 100,000 people,”

The Minister warned that obesity could be the leading factor leading to cancer.

Here are some precautions we can take.
To those who smoke, please quit now. You not only poison yourself but you endanger those around you as well. Those you are overweight, please try to reduce your weight and lead a healthy lifestyle.
By being healthy you maintain your immune system at optimum levels and this helps fight against illnesses as I understand some form of cancer is caused by viruses and bacteria.
Stay way from direct sunlight. If you cannot escape the sun, use sunblock creams.
Watch your diet. Eat wholesome foods, full of fibre as fibre can help rid your body of toxins. Drink plenty of natural water as water is a natural cleanser.
If a family member falls ill of cancer, especially breast cancer, other members of the family are advised to go for cancer screening.
It helps to be sensitive to small physical changes in our body parts and functions as routine checks and early detection are always the things to do.

The above are only the little things we can do on a personal level to help us stay away from cancer. We cannot control our environment on a macroscopic level. We have to leave this to the organizations capable of doing so.