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Cancer: A Global Concern

The following table shows new cancer cases and deaths worldwide for 1985 and predicted for 2015:

Cancer will become the leading cause of death in many countries early in the next century. Over the 25-year period bracketing the year 2000 the world will see 300 new cancer cases and 200 million cancer deaths. Nearly 2/3 of all cancers will occur in developing countries who have only 5% of resources for cancer control

"Cancer annually affects 9 million people and causes 5 million deaths. In developed countries it is the second most common cause of death, and epidemiological evidence points to the emergence of similar trend in developing countries. The principal factors contributing to this disease pattern are the increasing proportion of elderly people (in whom cancer is more prevalent) in most populations, the greater ability of medical science to control once-fatal communicable diseases, and the rising incidence of certain forms of cancer, notably lung cancer resulting from tobacco use. It is likely that 300 million new cases of cancer and 200 million deaths from the disease will occur in the next 25 years, with almost two-thirds of cases arising in developing countries.

Medical advances mean that one-third of all cancers are preventable and a further one-third , if diagnosed sufficiently early, are potentially curable. Moreover, appropriate palliative care of the remaining one-third of cancer patients can bring about substantial improvements in the quality of life."

"Noncommunicable diseases, which are on the increase throughout the world, are expected to be the cause of 54% of all deaths in the year 2015; tropical infections and parasitic diseases, by contrast, will account for only 16% of deaths – a marked fall from the 1985 figure of 35%. Cancer is currently the cause of one-tenth of all deaths, and is the second most frequent cause of death in the majority of developed countries. This disease has often been regarded as a problem belonging principally to the developed world; in fact, more than half of all cancers occur among the three-quarters of the world’s people who live in developing countries. … Approximately 17.5 million people are alive with cancer at present; by 2015 there will probably be more than 30 million."

(from WHO, National Cancer Control Programmes. Geneva, 1995)

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