WHO Concerned Over Dramatic Increase in Cancer Cases
February 4th is designated as World Cancer Day. The World Health Organization, despite significant advances in cancer control, has expressed concern over a dramatic increase in cancer cases worldwide.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday, February 4th, released a report marking World Cancer Day, warning about a dramatic rise in cancer cases globally, particularly in poor countries.
According to estimates by the organization, if serious measures are not taken to combat this disease, cancer cases in low and middle-income countries will increase by 81 percent by 2040.
The World Health Organization has also addressed the causes of this trend in its report. Since poor and low-income countries allocate their limited resources to combating infectious diseases and providing care for mothers and newborns, adequate attention is not paid to necessary measures and programs to fight cancer.
According to Elisabeth Weiderpass, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, advances and improvements in treatment methods for this disease in wealthy countries resulted in a 20 percent reduction in cancer deaths between 2000 and 2015.
This figure, however, reached only 5 percent during the same period in poor and low-income countries worldwide.
The director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer called for cancer patients around the world to benefit from advances made in the fight against this disease.
The World Health Organization predicted in its report that cancer incidence worldwide will increase by a total of 60 percent by 2040.
According to the organization’s estimates, if an additional 23 billion euros are invested in cancer control over the next decade, it would be possible to prevent 7 million cancer deaths during this ten-year period.
Source: DW
