Following World Cancer Day on Monday, staff at Tunisia Live talked with local health care experts about the most widespread forms of the disease in the country – lung cancer for men and breast cancer for women – and initiatives underway to combat the disease.

Rebha Bouslema, secretary general of the Tunisian Organization for the Fight Against Cancer (ATCC), said that smoking tobacco increases the risk of both kinds of cancer; as a result, ATCC has focused many of its efforts on raising awareness about the dangers of smoking.

The organization has adopted several initiatives as part of this effort, including anti-smoking educational campaigns targeting children between the ages of 10 and 13; a project called “Without Tobacco Companies” that educates employees of five Tunisian tobacco companies about smoking risks; and a program that helps farmers of Ain Sidra in Jendouba governorate to replace tobacco with other crops.

Farmers sometimes prefer to plant tobacco because it is less likely to be eaten by wild boars, Bouslema said. ATCC helps farmers plant new crops and build fences that will protect their parcels of land from wildlife.

“This program has helped them live better, eat healthier food, and earn more,” she added.

According to Globocan 2008, lung cancer accounted for 23% of cancers diagnosed in men; breast cancer accounted for 29.7% of cancers diagnosed in women.

Apart from smoking, the causes of breast cancer include environment and family predisposition.

Globocan 2008 is a project initiated by the World Health Organization that aims to provide contemporary estimates of prevalence and mortality rates of different cancers throughout the world.