WHO Report Says Cancer Cases Will Rise by 70 Percent in 20 Years

A 70 percent rise in cancer cases worldwide will be seen within the next 20 years, reports a study by the World Health Organization.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the WHO collaborated with over 250 leading scientists from more than 40 countries to research on cancer and disease control. According to the report, there was an increase of 14 million cancer cases per year during 2012 and the figure is expected to increase to 22 million in the next twenty years. The numbers of deaths are predicted to rise from an estimated 8.2 million to 13 million annually.

The most common cancers diagnosed in the year 2012 were lung, breast and large bowel accounting for  13, 11.9 and 9.7 percent of the total respectively. The most common causes of cancer deaths were lung, liver and stomach. More than 60 percent of the worldwide cancer suffers are in Africa, Asia, Central and South America and these regions account for 70 percent of world cancer deaths.

The report emphasized on the growing cancer rates in some of the low-income countries due to the rise in population and poorly-equipped health care facilities. The rich countries also scramble to meet the spiraling treatment costs.

 Dr Christopher Wild, Director of IARC says in the press statement , "The rise of cancer worldwide is a major obstacle to human development and well-being. These new figures and projections send a strong signal that immediate action is needed to confront this human disaster, which touches every community worldwide, without exception."

Improvements in early detection and affordable treatments in developing countries can bring down the number. The research also said that implementation of effective vaccination against Hepatitis B virus and human papillomavirus (HVP) can reduce liver cancer and cervical cancer, respectively. Curbing the use of tobacco in low and middle income countries will help reduce the lung cancer cases. In addition, physical activities and obesity control measures are suggested in the report to monitor rampant breast and large bowel cancers in high-income countries.

 "Governments must show political commitment to progressively step up the implementation of high-quality screening and early detection programmes, which are an investment rather than a cost," says the co-author, Bernard W. Stewart, in the report.