BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 25 2015 – Health Minister John Boyce says cancer is the second leading cause of death in Barbados.
He said the main cancers of public health concern are prostate, colon, breast and cervix, which account for more than 60 percent of sickness and death from the disease.
Addressing the Caribbean Association of Oncology and Haemotology Conference, Boyce said that cancer was second to cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in Barbados.
The conference, which ends Saturday, has attracted health care professionals from Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It is being held under the theme ‘Challenges in Cancer Care Treatment – the Caribbean Perspective’.
Noting that Barbadians aged 45 to 84 were particularly at risk for developing the disease, the health minister said that his ministry, along with the Barbados Cancer Society and Cancer Support Services, supported an enhanced national screening programme for breast, cervix, prostate and colon cancers.
