Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Cyprus, with 1.156 deaths in 2010, Health Minister Androula Agrotou said, warning that the cases were on the rise. "Cancer is unfortunately the second leading cause of death nowadays. "In 2010, 5095 deaths were recorded in Cyprus, of which 1928 were due to diseases of the circulatory system, followed by 1156 deaths due to cancer", said Ms. Agrotou in her greeting at the press conference on "Prevention and early diagnosis of oral cancer" .
As he said, these cases show an increasing trend over time as a result of the increase in life expectancy, but also the modern lifestyle where habits such as smoking and alcohol abuse prevail, classifying cancer as a modern threat to health and a major public health issue. with broad medical, psychological, social and economic implications both for the patients themselves and their families as well as for society and health systems in general.
Particularly in terms of the cost of treating cancer patients, this is increasing dramatically with insurance funds ringing the alarm bell, as cancer treatments are among the most expensive treatments. "Therefore, the treatment of cancer should be coordinated with a series of actions aimed at prevention, early diagnosis through screening programs and the best possible treatment.
In this context, the Ministry of Health proceeded to the preparation of the Cancer Strategy, which includes a series of actions in all the aforementioned areas ", he added.
Ms. Agrotou also said that in the context of the prevention and early detection of chronic diseases, the campaign organized by the Dental Services is included, which is fully in line with the priorities set by the Cypriot Presidency in the field of health, including healthy aging, which can only be achieved through the timely implementation of prevention programs and the adoption of healthy behaviors against chronic diseases such as cancer.
He stressed, finally, that the continuous training of health professionals is a long-term and high priority goal of the Ministry of Health as it is a necessary element to ensure quality and high level of health services.