One
the eve of World Cancer day, a report released on from the International Agency
for Research on Cancer (IARC) shows some disappointing figures for the global
fight against cancer. By 2030, cancers are expected to jump from 14 million in
2012 to 21.6 million a year, and overall deaths are expected to increase from
8.2 million to 13 million annually.
Lung cancer is the biggest killer, and the
report criticizes tobacco companies' push into poorer countries. It said a
smoking “epidemic” is “potentially impeding human development by consuming
scarce resources, increasing pressures on already weak health-care systems, and
inhibiting national productivity.”
The
world is facing a "tidal wave" of cancer, and restrictions on alcohol
and sugar need to be considered, say World Health Organization scientists.
It
predicts the number of cancer cases will reach 24 million a year by 2035, but
half could be prevented.
In
Uganda, some 3000 new people afflicted with various cancers will have presented
themselves at the Uganda Cancer institute (UCI), the only cancer referral
facility in the country for treatment by the end of 2014.
This
is because of the increase in infections malaria, HIV, Hepatitis B, Human
Papilloma Virus (HPV) and typhoid. Infection-related cancers include Burkitt’s
lymphoma, associated with malaria and affects children between four and seven
years, Kaposi's sarcoma caused by the Human Herpes
Virus 8 (HHV8) whose risk increases dramatically in people with HIV infection and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (cancer of the liver) caused
by the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV).
The
UCI director, Dr. Jackson Orem says HIV has accelerated the burden of cancer in
the country so much so that 60 percent of cancers in adults at UCI are
related to HIV.
“Thirty percent of cancers in
developing countries are related to infection. Most cancer patients in Uganda
are young and in their prime as opposed to elderly population in the developed
world,” he said in an interview with the Observer.
Dr. Orem adds that institute
is seeing an influx of children afflicted with Burkett’s lymphoma, a potentially fatal and disfiguring cancer that
often develops in the jaw or abdomen caused by the Epstein-Barr virus that is
as a result of frequent and ill-treated malaria.
Other infection related cancers include; blood, cervical, bladder and stomach cancers.
Worldwide, cancer kills more
people than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined and has become a leading
cause of death in the world. (WHO) estimates that by 2030 more than 12 million
people could die from cancer related diseases. About 80 per cent of these
deaths are likely to occur in low-income and middle-income countries such as
Uganda.
Currently,
according to information from the Non-communicable disease unit of the health
ministry, 300 people per every 100,000 are estimated to have cancers
Last
year, UCI recorded a total of 2800 patients with infection related cancers last
year accounting for more than 50 per cent of the cancer burden in the country.
“If
the infections are not reduced sooner than later, cancer is going to be the
next big epidemic in the country,” Dr Fred Okuku, a senior oncologist at UCI
warns.
The
WHO said there was now a "real need" to focus on cancer prevention by
tackling smoking, obesity and drinking.
The
World Cancer Research Fund said there was an "alarming" level of
naivety about diet's role in cancer.
Fourteen
million people a year are diagnosed with cancer, but that is predicted to
increase to 19 million by 2025, 22 million by 2030 and 24 million by 2035.
The
developing world will bear the brunt of the extra cases.
Dr
Chris Wild, the director of the WHO's International Agency for Research on
Cancer, told the BBC: "The global cancer burden is increasing and quite
markedly, due predominately to the ageing of the populations and population
growth.
“If
we look at the cost of treatment of cancers, it is spiralling out of control,
even for the high-income countries. Prevention is absolutely critical and it's
been somewhat neglected.”
The WHO's World
Cancer Report 2014 said the major sources of preventable cancer included:
·
Smoking
·
Infections
·
Alcohol
·
Obesity and inactivity
·
Radiation, both from the sun and medical scans
·
Air pollution and other environmental factors
·
Delayed parenthood, having fewer children and not
breastfeeding
For
most countries, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. However,
cervical cancer dominates in large parts of Africa.
The
human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause. It is thought wider use of the HPV
and other vaccines could prevent hundreds of thousands of cancers.
One
of the report's editors, Dr Bernard Stewart from the University of New South
Wales in Australia, said prevention had a "crucial role in combating the
tidal wave of cancer which we see coming across the world".
Dr Stewart said human behavior was behind
many cancers such as the sunbathe "until you're cooked evenly on both
sides" approach in his native Australia.
He said it was not the role of the
International Agency for Research on Cancer to dictate what should be done.
But he added: "In relation to alcohol,
for example, we're all aware of the acute effects, whether it's car accidents
or assaults, but there's a burden of disease that's not talked about because
it's simply not recognised, specifically involving cancer.
“The extent to which we modify the
availability of alcohol, the labelling of alcohol, the promotion of alcohol and
the price of alcohol - those things should be on the agenda.”
He said there was a similar argument to be
had with sugar fuelling obesity, which in turn affected cancer risk.
Meanwhile,
UCI has been chosen by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to host the Virtual
University for Cancer Control (VUCCnet)- a regional centre for
excellence for Cancer training in East Africa.
Currently, the modern Lymphoma Treatment Centre is nearing completion and it
is expected to accommodate 100 patients at any one time.
