Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has emphasised the need for raising nationwide awareness about cancer, particularly those linked to fatty liver, as well as breast cancer, which has become a leading cause of death among women in Bangladesh.

The Chief Adviser made the call during a meeting with leading Singaporean cancer specialist Professor Toh Han Chong at the State Guest House Jamuna on Saturday evening.

Prof Toh Han Chong, Senior Consultant at the National Cancer Centre, Singapore, was accompanied by Vijaya Rao, Deputy Director of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, and Kalwinder Kaur, Health Care Management Specialist at SingHealth and Edinburgh Napier University.

Prof Yunus said non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart ailments have become leading causes of death across South Asia.

He emphasised the importance of developing affordable and accessible preventive measures to combat these diseases, said the Chief Adviser’s press wing on Sunday.

“We need to build awareness on these diseases nationwide. Treatments for cancer or heart disease are often prohibitively expensive. Preventive measures must be made easier and more affordable, especially for middle-class, lower-middle-class, and poor families,” Prof Yunus said.

Prof Toh highlighted that fatty liver disease now affects hundreds of millions of people in South Asia and is increasingly linked to liver cancer and other serious illnesses.“We need to build greater awareness about this disease,” he said.

The Chief Adviser also underscored the need for more widespread and low-cost breast cancer screening in Bangladesh.

He called for enhanced healthcare cooperation between Singapore and Bangladesh, particularly in training Bangladeshi doctors and medical professionals.

Professor Toh said visiting Singapore specialists had trained Bangladeshi doctors earlier this week and expressed hope that such training programmes would continue annually.