Zagreb - Health Minister Vili Beroš presented the national strategy for cancer prevention in parliament on Thursday, saying that the number of people suffering from malignant diseases was continuously increasing.
The World Health Organization predicts that the annual number of new cancer cases in the world will increase from 18 million in 2018 to 29.5 million in 2040 and the number of deaths from 9.5 million to 16.4 million annually.
- Cancer is the second most frequent cause of death after cardiovascular diseases and was responsible for 27 percent of deaths in Croatia in 2018. It is the leading cause of death in persons younger than 65 years of age and is responsible for 50 percent of deaths in women and 35 percent of deaths in men, Beroš said.
Annually, an average of 12,000 cases of invasive cancer are diagnosed in men and 10,350 in women, he added.
- Between 30 and 50 percent of malignant tumors can be prevented, Beroš said, adding that the national strategy for cancer prevention included a series of measures and activities for that purpose. "It aims to reduce the cancer mortality incidence and prolong and increase patients' quality of life," he said.