27,000 Israelis are diagnosed with cancer annually according to numbers released by an international cancer registry. The good news is that Israel is a leader in cancer survival rates.

The statistics were released as the Israel Cancer Society begins to launch its annual door-to-door fundraiser to combat cancer, which gets underway on 19 October.

According to Dr. Micha Bar-Chana, who heads the nationwide cancer registry, 61.4% of Jewish males and 67.3% of Jewish females are ‘cured’ five years after being diagnosed with the potentially fatal illness. The highest cure rate is among victims of breast cancer, Baruch Hashem as high as 86%. The doctor explained a major contributory factor is the advancement in early detection along with increased awareness.

On the other side of the coin, much work remains, as more people die daily of cancer than from AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, swine flu and regular flu combined, points out Miri Ziv, the director of the Israel Cancer Society. She quickly interjected that with the technology available today, the mortality rate can be reduced by 50% and many lives can be saved every year.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)