Morocco Tops Cancer Mortality Rates in Middle East and Africa, Study Finds

In a press release, the IHE states that it has conducted, in partnership with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a "comparative analysis of the cancer care landscape in the MEA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. "The impact of cancer for the 9 MEA countries in the IHE study is immense and growing - the disease was the third leading cause of death for the nine countries at the beginning of the millennium, but has become the second in 2016 in six of the nine countries, just behind cardiovascular diseases," said Samir Khalil, Executive Director of PhRMA Middle East and Africa.

The share of cancer among all diseases in Morocco has increased from 5% in 2000 to 9% in 2016, placing cancer in fourth place with mental and substance use disorders and unintentional injuries, the Swedish institute specifies. In Morocco, lung cancer had the highest mortality rate by cancer type with a share of 19% in 2018. Lung cancer ranked ahead of breast cancer (11%), cervical and colorectal cancers (7% each) and prostate cancer (6%), it is further specified. Also in 2018, Moroccans with lung, prostate and colorectal cancers had the highest mortality rates in the country, while Moroccan women with breast, cervical and colon cancers had the highest risk of mortality.