‘Cancer figures in Lebanon are alarming,’ warns health minister

“The cancer case numbers are staggering and alarming”: speaking at a conference in Chhim, Mount Lebanon, to mark World Cancer Day, Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine sounded the alarm Saturday, lamenting that “Lebanon is still lagging behind in terms of awareness.”

“World Cancer Day is above all a day for raising awareness, but unfortunately, it has a tragic dimension in Lebanon, where the cancer case numbers are staggering and alarming,” Nassereddine said, according to remarks carried by the state-run National News Agency. He noted that the Health Ministry has reactivated the national cancer registry and released figures for 2022, 2023 and 2024.

“The incidence rate is 224 cancer cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with the highest rates for breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men,” he said, lamenting that “Lebanon is still lagging behind when it comes to health awareness and early screening, and that consequences are often treated before the causes are addressed.”

The screening regulation, adopted by Parliament in August 2011, was implemented only briefly, until 2013. Since then, authorities have failed to follow up.

Cancer cases have risen sharply in Lebanon over the past decade. According to a study by the American University of Beirut, levels of carcinogenic pollutants released into the air have doubled in three areas of the capital since 2017, a trend exacerbated in recent years by the widespread use of private generators.