Report: Trinidad & Tobago among countries with highest cancer mortality rates in the Americas

Trinidad & Tobago is among three countries with the highest cancer mortality rates in the Americas, according to a new report released by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report released earlier this week at the 5th International Cancer Control Congress in Peru, showed that while deaths from cancer were decreasing in some countries of the Americas for certain kinds of cancers, deaths from other cancers were on the rise.

Overall, cancer is holding steady as the second-leading cause of death in the Americas, claiming an estimated 1.3 million lives each year, according to Cancer in the report titled “Americas: Country Profiles, 2013”.

The PAHO/WHO report shows that the Caribbean and Latin America account for approximately 50 percent of cancer deaths in the Americas, although they account for 63 percent of the hemisphere’s population.

The highest cancer mortality rates in the region are found in Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba and Argentina, based on data provided to PAHO/WHO by its member countries. -(CMC)