Averting Global Cancer Crisis
From the projected 20 million cases in 2022, over 35 million new cases of cancer are expected in 2050, representing a 77 per cent increase. Both population growth and aging, as well as shifts in individuals' exposure to risk factors—many of which are linked to socioeconomic development—are contributing factors to the rapidly rising global cancer burden. According to a report released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), on February 1 ahead of World Cancer Day, air pollution continues to be a major driver of environmental risk factors for cancer. Other major factors contributing to the rising incidence of cancer include tobacco, obesity and alcohol.
There is a continued decline in tobacco consumption from 1 in 3 adults worldwide consuming tobacco in 2000 to 1 in 5 adults in 2022. Still globally there are 1.25 billion adult tobacco consumers, according to the latest WHO tobacco trends report released in January 2024. Currently the WHO South-East Asian region has the highest percentage of population consuming tobacco at
26.5 per cent with the European region not far behind at 25.3 per cent.
In terms of the absolute cancer burden, high Human Development Index (HDI) countries are expected to experience the greatest absolute increase in incidence, with an additional 4.8 million new cases predicted in 2050 compared with 2022 estimates. Yet the proportional increase in incidence is most striking in low HDI countries (142 per cent increase) and in medium HDI countries (99 per cent). Likewise, cancer mortality in these countries is projected to almost double in 2050.
According to the January 2024 Statista report, Switzerland had the highest level of the HDI worldwide in 2021 with a value of 0.962. With a score of 0.961, Norway followed closely behind Switzerland and had the second highest level of human development in that year. Iceland, Hong Kong and Australia were the next to follow with a scope of 0.959, 0.952 and 0.951 respectively.
Global estimates reveal striking inequities in the cancer burden according to human development.
This is particularly true for breast cancer. In countries with a very high HDI, 1 in 12 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and 1 in 71 women die of it. By contrast, in countries with a low HDI; while only one in 27 women is diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, one in 48 women will die from it.
In its Global Cancer Observatory (GCO) report, IARC estimates that there were an estimated 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million deaths in 2022. The estimated number of people who were alive within five years following a cancer diagnosis was 53.5 million. About 1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, approximately 1 in 9 men and 1 in 12 women die from the disease. According to the GCO report 10 types of cancer collectively comprised around two-thirds of new cases and deaths globally in 2022. Data covers 185 countries and 36 cancers.
According to the GCO report, Asia has 9.8 million new cancer cases and witnessed 5.5 million deaths in 2022. The number of prevalent cases wherein people were alive within five years following a cancer diagnosis was 23.4 million. Compared to Asia, Oceania has less number of new and prevalent cases with just 269,088 new cancer cases in 2022, while the prevalent cases were 921,116. The number of deaths due to cancer in the region was 73,776 in 2022.
Globally, the cancer burden is still rising, placing a great deal of physical, psychological, and financial pressure on people, families, communities and health systems. Many low- and middle-income nations' health systems are ill-equipped to handle this load, and many cancer patients, worldwide, lack access to prompt, high-quality diagnosis and treatment. Strong health systems in nations have increased the survival rates of many types of cancer through early detection that is easily accessible, high-quality treatment and survivorship care. Globally, disparities in cancer incidence must be addressed. Experts believe that political will is just as important in this situation as resource allocation.