Breast cancer is the most lethal of the cancers that affect women in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide, per the NCBI. There is a higher mortality rate in the Caribbean compared to North America and Europe, which have higher incidence rates.
The islands’ Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Simone Keizer Beache, said that breast cancer claims the lives of 30 women in SVG each year.
“According to the statistics, thirty women pass away annually,” the chief medical officer stated.
Keizer Beache compared the mortality rates of colon and lung cancer, which claim the lives of eight and five women annually, respectively.
According to the most recent WHO statistics published in 2020, there were 21 breast cancer deaths in Saint Vincent, representing 2.75 percent of all deaths. Saint Vincent has the eleventh highest age-adjusted death rate in the world (30.65 per 100,000 population).
Lee Yan is a journalist based in Cebu, Philippines. For the past 10 years, he has worked in the media and writes part-time for the St. Vincent Times.