Dr Joseph Bernard Jr
Port-au-Prince, February 5, 2026.- Invited on the air of Magik9, Dr.Joseph Bernard Jr gives an alarming picture of cancer in Haiti. About 13,000 new cases and more than 9,000 deaths are recorded each year in a country without a national cancer registry and without a functioning public oncological service, making management largely inadequate.
According to estimates based on data from the GLOBOCAN report, Haiti records nearly 13,000 new cancer cases each year, for more than 9,000 deaths. This high mortality is largely due to late diagnosis, often at the metastasis stage, when cancer cells have already invaded other organs such as the lungs, bones or liver.
Most common cancers
Most of the cancer affects women, who account for 80-85% of patients, compared to 15-20 % of men. Breast cancer leads (40-45% of cases), followed by gynaecological cancers, including cervical cancer. In men, prostate cancer is most common. Other forms are also observed: digestive cancer, liver, blood and lymph nodes.
Dr. Bernard points out that more than 80% of cancers are related to environmental and behavioural factors: smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, infections (cervix HPV, hepatitis B and C for the liver), exposure to harmful substances. Hereditary factors account for only 10-15 per cent of cases, making prevention an essential lever.
A severely deficient care system
Early detection through screening remains the key to increasing the chances of recovery. However, only a few cancers can be detected effectively. In terms of treatment, care is based on three pillars: surgery, medical treatments (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy) and radiation therapy. The latter does not yet exist in Haiti, making treatment incomplete. Even more serious, no public hospital currently has an oncological department, leaving patients dependent on private clinics and a few NGOs.
W.A.
