PETALING JAYA: The rise in cancer fatalities among young children in recent years is a concern, and it is being addressed, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
"Pediatric cancer and morbidity have increased in recent years.
"Based on data, a total of 4,303 cancer cases involving children were recorded between 2012 and 2016.
"Most of the cases involved blood cancer such as leukaemia and lymphoma," said the Health Minister when replying to a supplementary question raised by Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd. Muttalib (PN-Maran) in Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Oct 13).
Dzulkefly acknowledged Ismail's concern that changes in dietary habits and food consumption are among the factors for a rise in cancer cases.
He said that his ministry has also introduced programmes and regulations related to the quality of both local and imported natural and processed food.
Earlier, Dzulkefly said that, according to the National Cancer Registry, a total of 45,070 cancer cases were detected in 2022.
He said the number decreased slightly to 38,814 cases the following year.
Among the top 10 cancer cases in the country, he said, were breast, colorectal, lung, lymphoma, liver, prostate, leukaemia, nasopharyngeal, uterine corpus and ovarian cancer.
He added that the five most common cancers among women in Malaysia are breast, colorectal, ovarian, cervical and uterine cancer.
Dr Dzulkefly said that the top five cancers among men here were lung, colorectal, prostate, nasopharynx, and liver cancer.
