ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Cancer rates in the Kurdistan Region have more than doubled over the last decade, new statistics from the Ministry of Health reveal.
The current rate of cancer is 151 cases per 100,000 people in the Kurdistan Region, the health ministry announced on Friday. This is more than twice the 73 cases per 100,000 people recorded in 2013.
The ministry said this rate of diagnoses is below the global average. In 2022, the global cancer rate was 196.9 cases per 100,000 people, according to data from the World Cancer Research Fund.
“Fortunately, the rate is much lower in the Kurdistan Region and is under control,” the ministry stated on Facebook.
Breast cancer is the most common type that has been diagnosed, Chnar Ali Snjawi, from the health ministry’s department of cancer control, told Rudaw on Friday.
As cancer rates rise, there is a shortage of treatment facilities.
In Sulaimani province, Hiwa Hospital is the only facility offering cancer treatment, drawing patients from across Iraq and the Kurdish regions of Syria, Turkey, and Iran.
In June, Hars Mohammed, head of Kalar General Hospital, estimated that establishing a specialized cancer hospital would require one billion dinars (around $763,000) after it was reported that the absence of a specialized center in the Garmiyan administration of southern Sulaimani province was impacting patient care.
According to data obtained by Rudaw, in the Kurdistan Region, 9,911 new cancer cases were recorded in 2023, compared to 9,061 in 2022, 7,904 in 2021, and 6,293 in 2020.
Shkar Rebwar contributed to this report.
