Three-year cancer awareness campaign starts

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