Health
20% of Deaths in Thailand from Cancer
Mother Taking Daughter to Clinic -Preventing Cervical Cancer in the Next Generation
CHIANGRAI TIMES– Cancer is believed to be the No 1 killer in Thailand accounting for about 20 per cent of deaths in the country every year. In 2010 alone, 58,076 people succumbed to the disease.
“However, cancer is curable if symptoms are detected at an early stage,” Deputy Public Health Minister Surawit Khonsomboon said yesterday at an event held to raise public awareness about cancer. February 4 is marked as World Cancer Day every year.
Dr Wilawan Jeungprasert, general director of the Medical Services Department, said people over the age of 30 should undergo a checkup every year.
“Unusual bleeding or discharge, indigestion, sores that do not heal and recent changes in a wart or mole are among the signs of some types of cancer,” she said.
She also advised people to keep the disease at bay by exercising regularly, including fruit and vegetables in their diet as well as being positive. “Don’t smoke. Don’t drink alcohol. Don’t engage in risky sex. Don’t eat raw freshwater fish and don’t expose yourself to glaring sunlight,” she said.
