A person aged 30 to 70 living in Trinidad and Tobago has a 20 percent risk of being diagnosed with cancer.
This is according to data from the World Health Organization.
Terry-Ann Browne-Campbell reports….
The United Nation’s resident coordinator in Trinidad and Tobago, Joanna Kazana, said global cancer deaths are at 26 thousand a day or 20 million annually.
She noted that if the situation is not addressed it is expected to rise to 35 million annually by 2050.
Ms. Kazana shared some World Health Organization statistics for cancer in Trinidad and Tobago.
Ms. Kazana noted that the people who contract cancer are mainly the poor and the socially disadvantaged.
But she explained that the world is recording five times more cancer deaths at present than it did at the height of the HIV epidemic.
The UN Resident Coordinator was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 14th Annual Caribbean Association of Oncology and Hematology Scientific Conference on Friday.