Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Fiji - Bera

Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Fiji and this includes breast cancer.

This was highlighted by Fiji Cancer Society Nurse and Project Facilitator Alumita Bera while speaking during the fijivillage straight talk with Vijay Narayan.

Bera says the government and the Ministry of Health have acknowledged this in their reports and says while there has been public concern over the rise in HIV cases recently, cancer numbers are equally alarming.

She says they have heard about the increase in HIV cases with the numbers doubling from the previous years, but if people looked at cancer statistics, they would see how serious it is.

She further says in 2021, the Fiji Cancer Society registered about 400 new cases and soon after, they recorded an additional 500 cases.

Bera says in in the first few months of this year alone, they have had over 100 new cases.

She adds that every week, the Fiji Cancer Society registers about two to three new cases where these figures only represent patients who come directly to the Society.

Bera says this does not include those diagnosed by private practitioners, private hospitals or medical centers outside of Suva.

She says the Fiji Cancer Society is working to gather more data from around the country.

She says they have an office in Lautoka that's working on collecting numbers from the Western Division and their oncology team in Labasa doing the same in the Northern Division.