2018: Cancer burden records 18.1 million new cases globally

The World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in its latest GLOBOCAN report specifying prevalence and death rates from many different types of cancer, said the global cancer burden would rise to an estimated 18.1 million new cases this year.

“Cancer will claim the lives of 9.6 million people in 2018, accounting for one in eight of all deaths among men and one in 11 among women,” says the report.

The report published by the agency on September 12 was carried out in 185 countries or territories for 36 cancer types by sex and age group.

“West Africa accounts for 5.8 per cent of the global population and 7.3 per cent of cancer deaths.”

“Worldwide, the total number of people who are alive within five years of a cancer diagnosis, called the 5-year prevalence, is estimated to be 43.8 million.”

“There is also a shift from cancers related to poverty and infections towards cancers linked to lifestyles and diets more typical of wealthier countries,” says report.

WHO says the burden of cancer in Nigeria is heavy but it’s largely being ignored due to poor record keeping, cancer is responsible for 3 per cent of total mortality, which translates to 72,000 deaths per annum.

The challenge is that this number is set to increase given that there are 102,000 new cases of cancer every year. This means that about 240 Nigerians die every day or 10 Nigerians every hour from cancer. Nigeria’s cancer mortality ratio of 4 in 5 affected persons is one of the worst in the world.

However, global patterns showed that both for men and women, nearly half of new cancer cases and more than half of cancer deaths worldwide in 2018 will be in Asia, in part because the region has nearly 60 per cent of the global population.

The Asia have 48.4per cent of global cancer cases and 57.3 per cent of cancer deaths.

With an estimated 1.8 million new cases in 2018, colorectal or bowel cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, followed by prostate cancer and then stomach cancer are the most commonly diagnosed cancer.

IARC’s report said prevention efforts – such as stop-smoking campaigns, screenings, and human papillomavirus vaccinations – may have helped reduce incidence rates for some cancers, such as lung cancer among men in Northern Europe and North America and cervical cancer in most regions other than sub-Saharan Africa.

ANTHONIA OBOKOH