Overview
The aims of this register are 1)To collect data, keep a register and follow up all residents of the Maltese Islands who are diagnosed with cancer, and 2)To provide a surveillance function by using registry data to examine trends by age and gender, by cancer type, over time and across the nation. The first attempts at cancer registration in Malta were started in the mid-1960s. In fact, cancer incidence data from Malta for the time period 1969-1972 were included in the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Volume III (IARC, 1976). The present registry started in 1985 and is still ongoing. Initially, only data on cases diagnosed at St. Luke’s Hospital (the major acute general public hospital in Malta at the time) were collected. However, since 1991, the registry has also been collecting data on cases diagnosed in all (public and private) hospitals, clinics and laboratories on the Maltese Islands. Data on cancer site and morphology is coded using the International classification of diseases for oncology (ICD-O) – version 3, revision 2.
Notification of Cancers has been mandatory by law in Malta since 1957 through Chapter 15, Notification of Cancer Act which makes provisions for the notification of cancer. The Malta National Cancer Registry collects and processes personal information regarding cancers for statistical and research purposes and in the interests of public health. All data is collected and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, adopted in the Data Protection Act XX of 2018. On the 8th of October 2019, Legal Notice 263 of 2019 was published. This Legal Notice is intended to enact the Processing of Personal Data (Secondary Processing) (Health Sector) Regulations (S.L. 528.10 of the Laws of Malta) (“the Regulations”).
The purpose of the Regulations is to permit certain secondary processing of personal data in the health sector, effectively allowing the processing of health data for purposes other than those for which the personal data was initially collected for in certain cases by health care professionals.The Registry does not disclose identifiable data outside the Health Division unless the law permits it.
The Registry is part of the Department of Health Information and Research and is wholly funded by the Government of Malta. Investment has been made in a new database through EU funding.
Demographics
Dataset
Open data are available at https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt/en/dhir/Pages/Introduction.aspx where the data in aggregated format could be found and selected for different needs.
Access to microdata for research and analytical purposes (for registered researchers, researchers in public administration and registered research institutions) can also be provided after a request for data application form is submitted. Application form for the anonymised microdata is available at the web page: https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt/en/dhir/Pages/request-for-data-form.aspx . Researchers should send the completed application for obtaining microdata by e-mail to healthinfo@gov.mt. Requests are then handled by internally. For requests for record level data, see information on https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt/en/dhir/Pages/Contact-us.aspx. Requests are handled by internally.
All data is collected and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, adopted in the Data Protection Act XX of 2018. On the 8th of October 2019, Legal Notice 263 of 2019 was published. This Legal Notice is intended to enact the Processing of Personal Data (Secondary Processing) (Health Sector) Regulations (S.L. 528.10 of the Laws of Malta) (“the Regulations”). The purpose of the Regulations is to permit certain secondary processing of personal data in the health sector, effectively allowing the processing of health data for purposes other than those for which the personal data was initially collected for in certain cases by health care professionals.
Contact
DHIR, 95, Telghet Gwardamanga, Pieta', Malta