In 1999 the South African Ministry of Health (1999) reported that breast cancer was the leading cancer diagnosis among South African women in 1999. More recently, Mqoqi et al (2004) found one in 12 white women and one in 18 ethnically-diverse women were at risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer in South Africa. The National Health Cancer Registry of South Africa has not released national cancer-related statistics since 1999, making more recent morbidity and mortality rates difficult to calculate. However, the growing number of known breast cancer diagnoses tracked to 1999 suggests breast cancer morbidity is on the rise in South Africa.
