WHO: Worrying rise in cancer diagnoses
CANCER cases in Cambodia appear to be mirroring rising global trends. New cancer cases are predicted to hit 35 million in 2050 globally, a 77 per cent increase from the estimated 20 million in 2022, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to WHO’s Global Cancer Observatory Today report, released last week, the number of cancer deaths in the Kingdom in 2022 was 13,799, while 19,975 new cases were diagnosed in the same year, from a population of slightly more than 17 million.
WHO figures released in 2020 indicate that cancer deaths in Cambodia in 2018 reached 11,636, from an estimated population of 16.5 million. In the same year, 15,362 cases were diagnosed.
The figures suggest that an increasing percentage of the population is suffering from cancer, and also dying from it.
Liver, lung and breast cancers accounted for most of the diagnosed cases in both 2018 and 2022, while liver, lung and colorectal cancers accounted for the most deaths, according to WHO.
While more women were diagnosed with cancer in 2022 – with 10,624 cases in women and 9,171 in men – the number of male deaths was higher.
In 2022, 7,150 male Cambodians succumbed to cancer, while the disease took 6,649 female sufferers.
According to the UN health agency, tobacco, alcohol and obesity are the major factors behind the increasing incidence of cancer, while air pollution is still a key driver of environmental risk factors.
“The impact of this increase will not be felt evenly across countries of different Human Development Indexes. Those who have the fewest resources to manage their cancer burdens will bear the brunt of the global cancer burden,” said Freddie Bray, head of the Cancer Surveillance Branch at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), via a press release.
“Around one-third of cancer deaths are due to tobacco use, high body mass index, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake or a lack of physical activity,” explained Kol Hero, director of the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Medicine Department, during a cancer congress last year.
He added that within Cambodia, cancer treatment is provided by the state-run Calmette, Khmer Soviet Friendship, Luong Me hospitals and Kantha Bopha children’s hospitals, along with several private hospitals and clinics.