The Ministry of Health and Medical Education is devising a specific plan to reduce prevalence of cancer in the country, said Reza Malekzadeh, the ministry’s research and technology deputy.
“Establishing a national cancer committee in every province, and nationwide screening for colorectal cancers are part of the program,” he told IRNA.
Noting cancer’s high financial cost and the need to take basic measures for its prevention, Malekzadeh stressed that 30-50% of all cancers in the country could be prevented or controlled under the plan. Currently, Iran’s cancer incidence is low compared to the global figures, but that might be due to lack of national cancer screening programs for prostate, colorectal or breast cancer, a consequence of incomplete registration as well as incomplete diagnosis of cancer patients; therefore, it is expected that it will rise dramatically in the future.
