DUSHANBE, April 9, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The 30th session of the CIS Association of Oncology Institute and Center Directors, presided over by President of Russia’s Academy of Medical Sciences, academician Mikhail Davydov, has opened in Dushanbe today morning.

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), representatives of more than 20 members of the Association have gathered in Dushanbe to discuss the most topical problems of oncology and the cancer situation within the CIS area.  The meeting participants are also expected to consider organizing issues related to holding of the 6th Congress of CIS Oncologists in the Tajik capital in 2010.

According to the Cancer Research within a MoH, 9,634 cancer sufferers have been registered in the country to this date; 3,900 of them are men and 5,734 are women.  2,218 new cancer cases were detected in the country last year.

Specialists note that the annual cancer growth rate estimated in the country at 1.5 percent and rejuvenescence of the disease (more than 61 percent of cancer sufferers in Tajikistan are people under the age of 45) evoke serious concern.