PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has reported significant rises in the cases of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and mental health illnesses in 2024, a health official said on Monday.

Lo Veasnakiry, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Health, said a total of 230,279 new cases of diabetes were diagnosed last year, a year-on-year increase of 59 percent.

"For cancer, 31,518 patients received cancer treatment in hospitals last year, a year-on-year rise of 87.42 percent, and 127 deaths were recorded," he said during the opening ceremony of the Ministry of Health's annual conference in Phnom Penh.

"The most common cancer types were breast cancer, accounting for 20.4 percent of all cases, and cervical cancer accounted for 11.5 percent," Veasnakiry said.

The official said the cases of mental health illnesses reached 282,615 last year, up 197.8 percent compared to the year before.

He added that hypertension was also on the rise, with 401,936 cases being reported last year, up 21.4 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Veasnakiry disclosed that the cases of communicable diseases such as HIV also saw an uptick in 2024.

He said the number of HIV patients having received antiretroviral drugs surged to 69,694 last year, up about 3 percent from a year earlier.

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Enditem

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