92,000 People Get Cancer Annually in Iran

The Deputy Minister of Health announced that 92,000 people in Iran are diagnosed with cancer each year, with the annual treatment cost for this disease estimated at 10 trillion tomans. Iraj Harirchi stated in an interview with ISNA on Thursday, November 18, that 'increased life expectancy,' 'environmental factors,' and 'lifestyle changes' are the three main factors contributing to the rise of cancer in Iran. Harirchi added that men in Iran are more likely to develop skin, stomach, prostate, bladder, and colorectal cancers, while women are more prone to skin, breast, stomach, colorectal, and bladder cancers. The Deputy Minister of Health noted that cancer directly (death) and indirectly (disability) causes a loss of 450,000 years of life in Iran. He also stated that the direct and indirect costs of cancer per year are around 10 trillion tomans. This official indicated that the cost of cancer medication is about 1.5 trillion tomans, which is equivalent to 15% of the total drug costs in the country. According to Harirchi, 83% of the total costs of cancer medication in Iran are covered by the government. In recent years, based on statistical reports from the Civil Registration Organization, 'cardiovascular diseases,' 'cancer and tumors,' and 'respiratory diseases' have accounted for the highest share of mortality causes among Iranians. In 2013, Mohammad Reza Mir, the scientific secretary of the 24th annual congress of the Iranian Cancer Institute, stated that 70,000 to 80,000 people are diagnosed with various cancers annually in the country. In 2012, Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior advisor to Ali Khamenei, expressed concern about the rising trend of cancer in Iran and called for research on this issue. Rahim Safavi stated that 'recently, difficult-to-treat diseases like cancer have increased in our country, and this increase in difficult-to-treat diseases is strange and worthy of investigation.'