Cancer Overtakes AIDS, Malaria, TB As The Leading Killer

Staggering statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that cancer accounted for 8.2 million deaths globally, more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) combined in 2012. This number is expected to rise in the coming years, according to the organization. It projects that without immediate action the global number of deaths from cancer will increase by nearly 80% by 2030, with most occurring in low- and middle-income countries. We have reached the point at which cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. Each year, more than 14 million people have cancer. The Project Director of the African Cancer Organisation (ACO), Paul Opoku Agyemang, whose Non-Government Organisation (NGO) has been in the forefront of cancer prevention and research in Ghana told The Chronicle. He added: “Almost 70% of these deaths occurred in emerging economies, where resources for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer are limited or nonexistent, where governments are least prepared to address the growing cancer burden and where survival rates are often low”. In Ghana, cancer control and care have remained a low priority. Although WHO and its global partners believe that avoidable deaths from cancer and other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) can be reduced by 25% by 2025 if we do something, Ghana has health systems that are poorly prepared to grapple with the double burden of cancer, Mr. Agyemang emphasized. He explained: “Majority of these cancer cases present at the hospitals with late stages where cure is often impossible, but pain control is the only treatment option. Those who die from cancers normally leave behind orphans.

“In addition, the combined effects of cancer, poverty, deprivation and infectious diseases hinder the development of a sustainable population and consequently a sustainable future”. Ghanaians cannot currently access curative therapies, state-of-the-art surgery, or expensive cancer drugs that are the mainstay of cancer care in developed nations. It is in this regard that the African Cancer Organisation (ACO) has embarked on a national cancer control campaign to sensitize men and women who are eligible about cancer prevention and also downstage cancers by early-detecting them at stages where cure is possible. Although much remains to be learned about cancer, enough is now known about the causes of cancer and means of control for suitable intervention to have a significant impact, Mr. Agyemang asserted. continued