The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for urgent efforts to curb new cancer cases in Africa as deaths are projected to rise by 30 per cent in the next 20 years.
Announcing that Africa records around 1.1 million new cases of cancer yearly resulting in up to 700,000 deaths, the global health body said breast cancer, cervical, prostate, liver and colorectal cancers account for almost half of the new cases on the continent.
It stated that the common challenges faced in the region include limited access to primary prevention and early detection services, lack of awareness and education, besides delays in diagnosis and treatment.
WHO also said there is limited access to palliative care and pain relief.
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Shortages of specialists in medical and radiation oncology, pathology, medical physics and other essential areas compound the gaps, it said.
WHO’s Country Representative, Dr. Walter Mulombo, who announced this in a statement to commemorate this year’s International Cancer Week, with the theme: Bridging the Cancer Care Gap: Improving Dignosis and Multidisciplinary Management, also called for more advocacy to raise awareness around cancer and its impacts, especially on the most vulnerable citizens.
He said: “Children are also inequitably impacted. Of the more than 400,000 children diagnosed annually with cancer around the world, about 90 per cent live in low- and middle-income countries.
“Survival rates are at a very low 20 per cent or less in African countries, compared to more than 80 per cent in developed countries.
“A renewed effort to curb new cancer cases is urgent; alarming projections are that cancer death rates in Africa will rise exponentially over the next 20 years, exceeding the global average by 30 per cent.”