Symbolic photo : Pexel

DHAKA, Sept 04, 2025 (BSS) –As elsewhere in the world, cancer cases have marked significant rise in Bangladesh during the couple of years that requires strategic interventions and care to contain the deadly disease.    
 
Strategic interventions should focus on improving public awareness, early detection for cancers, expanding access to screening facilities and improving diagnostics at the district level, experts opined.
 
Cancer is currently one of the leading causes of death in Bangladesh. According to available statistics, in one year, 150,781 new cancer patients were diagnosed in the country. Among them, 18,137 died. 
 
The statistics, however, showed that the number of women diagnosed with cancer and dying from the disease is higher than that of men in the country.
 
Studies have also shown that 59.5 percent of adults with cancer are women and 40.5 percent are men. Among cancer patients, 74.8 percent are adults and 25.2 percent are children. Women are also more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a younger age than men.
 
Among adult men, 10.2 percent are affected by bladder cancer, 9.9 percent by prostate cancer, and 8.5 percent by oral cancer.
 
On the other hand, among women, 23.3 percent are affected by breast cancer, 21.5 percent by cervical cancer, and 8.9 percent by oral cancer. The rate of reproductive system cancer is 11.2 percent in men and 31.9 percent in women.
 
A study was conducted recently on 1,656 people using a hospital-based cancer registry. Of these, 1,238 were adults and 418 were children. The incidence of lung cancer in men was 9.6 percent, leukemia was 9.4 percent, and lymphoma was 9 percent. 
 
Breast cancer in women was 28.1 percent, thyroid cancer was 16.1 percent, and cervical cancer was 12.2 percent. Besides, Leukemia was 71.5 percent in boys and 10.3 percent in lymphoma. Leukemia was 66.5 percent in girls and 11.6 percent in bone cancer.
 
The results of the study further show that women are getting affected by cancer from the age of 15 and most patients are being found by the age of 46.
 
From this point of view, most of the men are getting affected after the age of 20, and most patients are being detected by the age of 50.
 
Dr. Habibullah Talukder Raskin, Professor at the National Cancer Research Institute, said that a major reason for the increase in the rate of infection among women is the change in their lifestyle. Now girls are going out more often, many are getting used to smoking or drinking alcohol, he said.
 
He said they are now working on the streets and in the dust. Not breastfeeding the child, eating irregular meals or fatty foods are also one of the main reasons for the increase in the rate of cancer, he added.