Palestinian leaders and human rights groups on Tuesday accused Israeli prison authorities for Abu Hamdiyeh’s death, saying that the prisoner did not receive treatment until his cancer had spread.

“The death of Abu Hamdya can be labeled as direct assignation where Israel left him to die without providing him the required medications. Abu Hamdya suffered larynx cancer for the past few months,” UFree Network to defend the rights of Palestinian prisoners said in a statement.

“Despite his chronic disease, Maysra was medically ignored by Israeli prison authorities. He was denied health care and admitted to the hospital very late.”

According, to his family, many requests were made so specialized doctors can see him. However, the Israelis refused all those requests and continue to give him normal pain killers instead of real medical treatment.

Meanwhile, an official Palestinian human rights report has affirmed that chronic disease had spread among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

A report by the ministry of prisoners in Ramallah on Monday said that 25 Palestinian prisoners are cancer-stricken due to medical neglect in Israeli prisons.

It said that most of the cancer cases were detected after spreading in the body of the victims.

The Information Center at the Ministry of Health in Ramallah said that cancer was the second-leading cause of death in Palestine during the last year, after heart disease.

More than 4,500 Palestinians are held as prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel claims most of them intended or carried out anti-Israeli attacks.

In March 2011, Japan was struck by an earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people in the eastern part of the country. The tsunami also slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, located in Fukushima Prefecture, disabling cooling systems and leading to fuel meltdowns in three of the six units.

The report, produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), concluded that for the general population inside and outside of Japan “the predicted risks are low and no observable increases in cancer rates above baseline rates are anticipated.”

However, the report also notes that the risk of specific cancers for the population living in the most affected parts of the Fukushima Prefecture is slightly higher.

“The primary concern identified in this report is related to specific cancer risks linked to particular locations and demographic factors,” said WHO Director for Public Health and Environment Maria Neira.

“A breakdown of data, based on age, gender and proximity to the nuclear plant, does show a higher cancer risk for those located in the most contaminated parts. Outside these parts – even in locations inside Fukushima Prefecture – no observable increases in cancer incidence are expected.”

For people in the most contaminated area, the report estimates that there is a 70 per cent higher risk of females exposed as infants of developing thyroid cancer over their lifetimes.

In addition, the risk of leukemia increased by 7 per cent for males exposed as infants, and for infant females there is a six per cent higher risk of contracting breast cancer. The report also notes that one third of the emergency workers who were inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant have an increased risk of cancer.

“The WHO report underlines the need for long-term health monitoring of those who are at high risk, along with the provision of necessary medical follow-up and support services,” said Dr. Neira. “This will remain an important element in the public health response to the disaster for decades.”

The report, ‘Health Risk Assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami based on preliminary dose estimation,’ was carried out by scientific experts on radiation, epidemiology and public health, among others, who estimated risks in the general population in Fukushima Prefecture, the rest of Japan and the rest of the world.

Experts also stated that the psychosocial impact of the nuclear disaster may have a long-term consequence on the health and well-being of the population, and this should be addressed as part of the overall response along with the environmental impact to prevent future incidents of this nature.

“In addition to strengthening medical support and services, continued environmental monitoring, in particular of food and water supplies, backed by the enforcement of existing regulations, is required to reduce potential radiation exposure in the future,” said the Acting Director for WHO’s Food Safety and Zoonosis Department, Angelika Tritscher.

“Cancer should not be a death sentence anywhere in the world as there are proven ways to prevent and cure many cancers,” Oleg Chestnov, Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health at the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a statement about the global capacity survey.

“In order to reduce exposure to risk factors leading to cancer and ensure that every person living with cancer gets access to appropriate care and treatment, comprehensive cancer control programmes need to be set up in every country.”

A functional cancer control plan includes prevention, early detection, treatment and care, according to WHO. The agency’s recent survey of 185 countries and their national capacity for noncommunicable diseases revealed major gaps in cancer control planning and services.

Even if countries developed cancer plans or policies, many of them are struggling to move from commitment to action, the survey showed.

Seventeen per cent of African countries and 27 per cent of low-income countries have cancer control plans with a budget to support implementation, according to the survey.

In contrast, South-east Asia generally has the greatest percentage of countries with policies, plans or strategies related to cancer, and all of them have some type of policy for diabetes, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use, which are known risk factors for some cancers.

Overall, fewer than half of the countries have population-based cancer registries critical to capture high-quality information on the numbers and types of cancer cases. The data helps to develop, implement and evaluate effective national policies for cancer control.

To support Member States’ capacity to collect reliable data, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partners introduced the Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (GICR).

“This initiative is supporting mainly those countries that lack the resources to efficiently fight the rapidly growing cancer burden,” said Christopher Wild, Director of IARC.

“Better data on cancer occurrence will help governments to make the most of their limited resources and direct funds and activities to the areas where they are needed most.”

The first regional hub was launched in Mumbai, India, last year, with the regional hub in Izmir, Turkey, to become operational this year.

Political commitments from world leaders to address cancer have gained steam recently, WHO said. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month called on participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to strengthen efforts to achieve global targets related to health, stressing the imperative of building a better future for all.

This year’s World Cancer Day, marked on 4 February, focuses on improving general knowledge around cancer.