adminZCR registrar Mr Eric Chokunonga said recorded cases of prostate cancer had even surpassed those for kaposi sarcoma, which used to be the leading cancer in the same population.
Kaposi sarcoma now accounts for 19,1 percent.
“This development is not entirely unexpected as the incidence of prostate cancer has been steadily increasing in the last decade. We believe that this development warrants further epidemiological investigation.”
Other leading cancers in Harare are Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma accounting for 9.1 percent, oesophagus 5.5 percent, liver 5.2 percent, stomach 4.4 percent, lung 4.0 percent, non-melanoma skin cancer 2.9 percent, eye 2.9 percent and leukaemia 2.5 percent.
Kaposi sarcoma, however, remains the leading cancer among black men nationally accounting for 20.3 percent of the total 1 837 cases recorded.
Mr Chokunonga said the incidence of kaposi sarcoma in both children and adults had been declining in the last few years.
He attributed the decline to the decrease in the incidence of HIV-related kaposi sarcoma owing to increasing availability of anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
Mr Chokunonga said this trend was similar elsewhere in the region.
“However, the incidence of the other known HIV-related cancers (non-Hodgkin lymphoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva) seems not to have been affected. In fact, these appear to be on the increase,” he said.
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma accounts for 8,9 percent of all the recorded cancers ranking third after prostate (15,5 percent) on the list of most common cancers in Zimbabwe among black men. Other cancers are oesophagus which, has seen 5.7 percent of men affected, eye 5.0 percent, liver 4.7 percent, non-melanoma skin cancer 4.5 percent, stomach 3.5 percent, lung 3.0 percent and colon 2.3 percent.
Non-melanoma skin cancer is the commonest cancer among non-black men accounting for 55.5 percent.
This was followed by prostate 10.1 percent, colon 5.3 percent, NHL 4.5 percent, lung 3.2 percent, melanoma skin cancer 3.2 percent, bladder 2.8 percent, rectum 2.4 percent, stomach 1.6 percent and oesophagus 1.2 percent.
According to the ZCR’s annual report, 2 683 females were diagnosed with cancer in 2010.
The most common cancer among black women is cervical seeing 32.2 percent affected.
Breast cancer is also on the top list accounting for 12.0 percent.
Other cancers include kaposi sarcoma 8.3 percent, eye 5.0 percent, NHL 4.3 percent, oesophagus 3.4 percent, non-melanoma skin cancer 3.3 percent, ovary 2.6 percent, stomach 2.1 percent and corpus uteri 2.0 percent.
In non black women, the leading cancers are non-melanoma skin cancer 41.7 percent, breast 18.1 percent, cervix uteri 6.9 percent, colon 4.6 percent, rectum 4.6 percent, ovary 3.2 percent, lung 2.3 percent, melanoma skin cancer 1.9 percent, bladder 1.9 and NHL 1.9.
Mr Chokunonga said there was an increase in the number of all cancer cases recorded in 2010 compared to the previous years. He attributed the increase to the recovery of the economy which has impacted positively on the healthcare delivery system.
The ZCR 2010 annual report comes barely four months after publication of the 2009 report and six months after the release of the 2008 report.
Online Reporter