Every year the World Cancer Day is marked globally on 4th of February to raise awareness and educate the population across the globe about cancer and unite efforts be it governments or individuals to take action against the disease to save millions of preventable deaths. In Mauritius, the World Cancer Day was marked this year under the theme ‘I Am And I Will’ on 12 February 2019 at Roche Bois Social Welfare Centre. On this occasion, Dr Hon. Anwar Husnoo, Minister of Health and Quality of Life launched a series of activities in view of sensitizing people on the prevention and control of cancer in the country. Eminent personalities namely the Lord Major of the Municipal Council of Port Louis, Mr Daniel Eric Clive Laurent and Dr Laurent Musango, WHO Representative in Mauritius were present during the official launching of the activities.
Dr Hon. A. Husnoo , in his speech, stated his appreciation that a large number of people was attending the launching of activities and he added that ‘this is an indication that people are aware of the magnitude of the problem and they show their interest in participating in the national prevention and control programme against cancer that is being carried out by the Ministry.’ Right at the start, the Health Minister expressed his concern on the rising number of new cancer cases in Mauritius. According to the Cancer Registry, there were 2500 new cases of cancer in 2015 and the number of death due to cancer has also increased. In fact, 13.3% of deaths in 2015 in Mauritius were due to cancer and in Rodrigues, the figure was 14.3%.
