The recent alarm on rising global incidence of cancer by the World Health Organisation (WHO) should worry African countries, including Nigeria, where the disease is most prevalent.
Available statistics show that cancer killed 7.6 million persons in 2008 worldwide, and there is indication that the figure could double to 13 million by 2030.
According to WHO, cancer accounts for 13 percent of all deaths registered globally and 70 percent of that figure occurs in middle and low income countries.
In Nigeria, about 10,000 cancer deaths are recorded annually while 250,000 new cases are recorded yearly. It is also worrisome that only 17 percent of African countries are said to have sufficiently funded cancer control programmes, while less than half of all countries in the world have functional plans to prevent the disease and provide treatment and care to patients.
WHO indicates that the shortage of functional cancer control plans is especially alarming in developing countries, which already account for more than two-thirds of the new cancer cases and deaths each year.
According to Dr. Andreas Ullrich of WHO’s Department of Chronic Diseases, the situation might get worse in metropolitan areas of the developing world as populations age and increasingly feel the impact of exposure to major risk factors such as tobacco, certain chemicals and infections.
Ullrich also explains that up to a third of all cancer deaths are linked to “modifiable risks” like tobacco, obesity and harmful use of alcohol. Despite the seeming gloomy cancer outlook, Dr. Oleg Chestnov, of WHO’s Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health Unit, assures that cancer should not be “a death sentence anywhere in the world, as there are proven ways to prevent and cure many cancers.”
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