BANGKOK, Feb 4 – Cancer kills an average of seven Thai people every hour–and the number of new cancer patients has surged to over 100,000 people each year, according to the minister of public health.
Dr Pradit Sintavanarong said cancer has become the world’s top killer and that Thailand’s follows that trend. He said the number of cancer patients worldwide is expected to increase sharply from 12.7 million in 2008 to 21.3 million in 2030.
Today marks World Cancer Day as announced by the World Health Organisation and the International Union Against Cancer. This year’s cancer prevention campaign, under the theme “Cancer – Did you know?”, is aimed at educating people about cancer and prevention measures.
Dr Pradit said among the 61,082 victims of cancer in Thailand in 2011, 35,437 were male and 25,645 female and there is an increasing trend of patients with colon and rectal cancer.
The urban lifestyle, the consumption of meat rather than vegetables and a lack of physical exercise are some of the major causes of colon and rectal cancer, he said.
