Cancer causes one in the three deaths: latest figures.
New government figures show cancer is the leading cause of death in
New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , accounting for nearly one third of annual deaths.
The Latest figures from the New Zealand Health Information Service
are for the year 2003, in which 8027 people died of cancer. That year
there were 18,856 new cancer cases, an increase of 3.6 percent on the
previous year, and up 17.2 percent on 1995.
The Ministry of Health's principal adviser on cancer control,
Dr John Childs John Childs may be: - John Childs (cricketer), an English cricket player.
- John Childs (aviator), an 18th century aviator
- John Childs (murderer), a murderer.
, said most of the increase in new cancer cases was due to
the ageing population--older people have a greater risk of cancer--and
population growth. The report showed Maori Maori (mä`ōrē), people of New Zealand and the Cook Islands, believed to have migrated in early times from other islands of Polynesia. Their tradition asserts that seven canoes brought their ancestors to New Zealand. were more Likely than
non-Maori to die from cancer. Maori women were more than
four-and-a-half-times more likely to die from lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. than non-Maori
women, and Maori men were more than two-and-a-halftimes more likely.
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