Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched the ‘Thyroid Vitality’ campaign to raise awareness of thyroid cancer in April, which is the global awareness month for this type of cancer.

Thyroid cancer is the second common cancer across females and the fifth common cancer among both genders in Qatar, according to the Qatar National Cancer Registry at the Ministry of Public Health in 2016.

Heba Nassar, head of the Health Education Department at QCS, said, “QCS has launched the ‘Thyroid Vitality’ awareness campaign through its electronic platforms due to the preventive measures in place to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, by broadcasting awareness messages and videos related to the definition of thyroid cancer, signs and warning symptoms, methods of prevention and early detection.”

Dr Hadi Mohamed Abu Rasheed, head of Professional Development and Scientific Research Department at QCS, added that according to the Qatar National Cancer Registry of 2016, there were 86 cases diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Qatar and 34% of the cases in Qatar were males and 66% were females. Of these, 78% of the cases were non-Qatari while 22% were Qatari.

Amongst the Qatari population, 204 cases were diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 30-39 years was the highest age group with thyroid cancer incidences, he added.