Cancer remains No. 2 killer in CNMI

A visiting U.S. medical doctor has said cancer is still the number two cause of death in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas (CNMI), a local newspaper Saipan Tribune reported Wednesday.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Commonwealth Cancer Association (CCA) this week, Neal Palafox, a doctor from John Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii said that cancer involving the lungs, breasts, cervix, colon, head and neck are major causes of death in the CNMI.

Statistics show that from 1993 to 2002, there were 146 cases of breast cancer in the Commonwealth and 71 cases of cervical cancer, Palafox said.

On the causes of cancer, Palafox said that tobacco use among teenagers in the CNMI is twice the rate in the U.S. mainland.

"It is around 57 percent," he said, adding this is the second highest level in the world. Records also show that tobacco use among girls is slightly lower than among boys.

As for cervical cancer, Palafox said the CNMI's rate for this disease is between three or four times that of the rate in the U.S mainland.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, is a chain of 14 islands in the north-west Pacific. It is self-governing, but linked politically to the United States.

Source: Xinhua