The number of cancer patients in the country have been increasing by 10 percent every year on an average, said participants at the seminar.
Every year Vietnam records almost 150,000 new cancer patients and 75,000 people have so far died of the disease.
Most cancer cases were detected too late, especially in cases of liver, stomach, lung, breast and cervical cancer. In 2012, around 20,000 cancer patients are undergoing treatment.
Apart from this, cancer is one of the most common diseases in Ho Chi Minh City and the risks of acquiring the disease are increasing. The numbers of cancer patients have increased in HCMC by 5.4 percent a year on an average.
Many children are affected with Hematologic (blood) cancer, leukemia, followed by eye, kidney, bone and soft tissue afflictions. While the five most common cancers in men are lung, liver, rectum, stomach and upper jaw cancer; in women they are breast, cervix, rectum, lung and thyroid gland cancers that most affect them.
Cancer is more often seen in people above the age of 40 or more and the disease is less common in people after the age of 80.
Meanwhile, skin cancer is among the most common cancers in 65-year-olds or more, in both men and women. In women, by the time they are 65, the risk of breast cancer greatly reduces.
Professor Nguyen Chan Hung, chairman of the Vietnam Cancer Association, said people should follow a moderate diet, take regular exercise, and have regular medical check-ups for early detection of cancer.
Source: Vietnamnet
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