THE
Ministry of Health and Sports and the Yangon Region government launched a
three-year public campaign for cancer awareness to mark World Cancer Day at the
football pitch in Bahan Township on 4 February.
The
campaign, which will run from 2019 to 2021, has been organized in collaboration
with the Shwe Yaung Hnin Si Cancer Foundation.
A
total of 2,000 officials, members, and staff from the Yangon Region Public
Health Department, Myanmar Medical Association, Myanmar Dental Council, Myanmar
Nurse and Midwife Association, Myanmar Red Cross Society, and Myanmar Scouts
Association attended the event.
“The
campaign aims to raise awareness about cancer, which can be prevented. People
must go for cancer screening tests. If cancer is detected at an early stage, it
can be treated successfully. People can reduce the risk of cancer by avoiding
tobacco products and alcohol, and by following a healthy diet and an active
lifestyle,” said Dr. U Tun Myint, the deputy Director-General of the Yangon
Region Public Health Department.
World
Cancer Day marked the launch of the three-year campaign, with the theme ‘I am
and I will’, emphasizing that each of us can be a changemaker, he said. The
campaign seeks to make people aware that we can reduce cancer risk by avoiding
behaviors that are linked to the disease, he added.
According
to data released by the World Health Organization, 18.1 million new cancer
cases were reported worldwide in 2018, while around 9.6 million people died
from the disease. According to the WHO, one in five men and one in six women
worldwide are at risk of cancer, while one in eight men and one in eleven women
die from it. In Myanmar, lung and liver cancer cases are the most common among
men, while breast and endometrial cancer are two common malignancies found in
women.
Myint
Maung Soe
(Translated
by Ei Myat Mon)
Photo:
Myint Maung Soe
Ref:
The Global New Light of Myanmar
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