There were 1,300 new cases of, and 720 deaths from, various forms of cancer every year, Nationalist MP Frans Agius said in Parliament.

Speaking during the adjournment in the early hours of yesterday morning - after the House took seven hours to approve the minutes of the previous sitting - Dr Agius said the strategy for the treatment of cancer was expected to be launched later this year as part of the health strategy for the prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Non-communicable diseases accounted for 60 per cent of the world's deaths and meant 47 per cent of the global burden.

He said that 82 per cent of Malta's deaths were the result of heart disease and cancer.

Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 40 per cent of the total non-communicable diseases in Malta. Diabetes in Malta was 9.2 per cent (compared to Europe's 8.4 per cent) and was expected to rise to 11.6 per cent by 2025.

Dr Agius said Malta's four main diseases were the result of unbalanced diets, lack of exercise, smoking (especially by women), alcoholism (with the new trend of binge-drinking among young people) and obesity.

In 2008, one in every five people was smoking, contributing heavily to the death rate while 45 per cent of the population were experiencing passive smoking. There had also been a rise in the number of smoking expectant women.

Turning to obesity, the Nationalist MP said that the 2006 health behaviour survey in school-aged children showed that 25 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys under 11 years of age were overweight.

This did not augur well for future generations.

The target for 2020 was to lower the percentages in both boys and girls to 15 per cent.