Cancer Will Be the World`s Leading Killer By 2010

Heart disease is on track to be trumped by cancer as the leading killer across the world in the not-to-distant future. Whether it is because of better diagnosis for cancer, better treatment for heart disease, or the increase of communities around the world smoking and drinking or other factors, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that cancer will be the leading killer by 2010.

Patients diagnosed with cancer have continued to rise annually worldwide and are expected to hit 12 million in 2008, with deaths due to cancer expected to reach 7 million. As the world’s population continues to grow, so the number of cancer cases grows as well. Tobacco use is on the rise, especially in developing countries, with 40 percent of the world’s smokers now living in China and India. Cancer cases in the United States are declining and the improvement is being attributed to the progress in medical treatment and diagnosis such as regular screening for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and the fact that the United States population is smoking less. For the first time since records were kept, less than 20 percent of the adult U.S. population are smokers.

WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released the new study this week at a news conference where cancer organizations gathered in hopes of drawing attention to the worldly threat of the disease. According to the report, "The global cancer burden doubled in the last thirty years of the twentieth century, and it is estimated that this will double again between 2000 and 2020, and nearly triple by 2030.” The report forecast that 26.4 million people will be diagnosed with cancer yearly by 2030 with 17 million dying.

The recent report identified some of the challenges in cancer care. The report highlighted the fact that in Africa palliative care is very limited because the use of narcotics are not allowed by law in some countries. Many countries have limited funds in their health budgets and high rates of communicable diseases. IARC’s Dr. Peter Boyle pointed out that cancer treatments in these less fortunate countries are scarce and out of reach for many of the population. Because help is so out of reach life saving treatments are very seldom available. Dr. Boyle said during a news conference, “This is going to present amazing problems at every level, in every society worldwide.”

Cancer cases have migrated from being seen mostly in the Westernized, wealthy, industrialized world to the less fortunate poor and middle-income countries. More people in poor countries are killed by cancer than HIV, malaria, and TB combined The recent gathering of organizations for the news conference where WHO released their report was “unprecedented” with representatives from the American Cancer Society, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Susan G. Komer for the Cure and the National Cancer Institute of Mexico being present. The organizations hope to draw attention to the global affects and threat of cancer. They are asking the U.S. government to help with six main efforts including, helping fund cervical cancer vaccines and to endorse an international treaty to control tobacco.

Dr. Boyle said, “The rapid increase in the global cancer burden represents a real challenge for health systems worldwide. However, there is a clear message of hope: although cancer is a devastating disease, it is largely preventable. We know that preventive measures such as tobacco control, reduction of alcohol consumption increased physical activity, vaccination for Hepatitis B and Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and screening and awareness could have a great impact on reducing the global cancer burden.”