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Irish Cancer Deaths 'Higher'
BBC News
Ireland
September 3, 2004
A cross-border report on cancer shows death rates from many cancers in Ireland are much higher than in the rest of Europe.
Among the cancers with higher death rates are bowel cancer and cancer of the oesophagus.
The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, which co-produced the report, says more and more people living longer means the number getting cancer can only increase.
As with previous reports, breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women, prostate among men.
However, the late 1990s saw a big fall in the death rate from breast cancer in Northern Ireland but not in the Irish Republic.
It is the thought the difference could be largely due to the province's long standing screening programme for the disease.
Lung cancer is the biggest killer north and south.
But it is expected that the recently introduced ban on smoking in public places in the Irish Republic will lead to a drop in the number of cases there.
Bowel cancer is much more common on the eastern seaboard of Ireland than anywhere else.
It is thought that could be partly due to pockets of deprivation in Belfast and Dublin.
Dr Anna Gavin of the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry says the ageing population north and south means the number of people getting cancer is going to rise steadily.
"Because cancer is a disease of older ages we are going to have to cope with more cancers as time goes on," she said.
Chief Medical Officer Etta Campbell said she was generally encouraged by the improvement in reducing the rates of some cancers in the province.
However, Dr Campbell said the unhealthy diet of many people was putting them at risk.
"That reflects, as indeed many other figures do, the poor diet which we have in Northern Ireland," she said.
"One third of all cancers are due to diet, not enough fruit and vegetables, too much fat in the diet, too much sweet things, and not recognising the effects of bad diet throughout a lifetime."
Alliance assembly member Kieran McCarthy said that while the province was making progress in developing treatments, there was much to be done in persuading people to lead a healthier lifestyle.
"It is also important that when someone is diagnosed with cancer that they get the treatment they need more quickly immediately," he said.
SDLP assembly member Carmel Hanna said the report showed how beneficial cross-border work could be.
"The work done is wholly positive, of benefit to every person on this island and threatening to no-one. We need to work proactively to find yet more models where work of this kind can be done," she said.
Sinn Fein assembly member John O'Dowd welcomed the report but said it highlighted the need for a greater focus on prevention.
"The emphasis should be on both governments and the departments of health, education and finance to promote increased healthy living programmes with targeted resources for the less well off in our society because poverty and ill health are inter-related," he said.
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