15 million new cancer cases per year by 2020, says WHO

Cancer rates worldwide are expected to soar by 50% over the next 20 years, according to the World Cancer Report published by WHO on April 3, unless action is taken to tackle unhealthy lifestyles and reduce smoking rates.

The report suggests that if action is taken now, a third of cancers could be prevented, another third could be cured, and better palliative care would improve the quality of life for the remaining third.

About ten million people worldwide develop cancer each year and there are more than six million deaths from the disease. The report predicts that by 2020 the number of new cancer cases each year will reach 15 million. The rise in new cancer cases is mainly due to an increasingly elderly population in developed and developing countries, current trends in smoking prevalence, and the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles, the report says.

"With our low intake of fresh fruit and vegetables and our high intake of fatty foods, together with a lack of exercise, we have managed to pull down on our heads a spectrum of disease, of which colorectal and breast cancer are only a couple", said Bernard Stewart, an adviser to the International Agency for Research on Cancer , and co-editor of the report.

"It is a relatively simple message--everyone should be eating about 500 g of fresh fruit and vegetables a day. And that's enough", he added.

Global cancer-prevention activities should be focused on two main factors--tobacco smoking and diet, said Rafael Bengoa, WHO's director of management of non-communicable disease.

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Smoking prevalence contributes to cancer development

WHO/P Virot

In addition, he said, we should continue efforts to curb infections, such as human papillomavirus and Helicobacter pylori, which can cause cancers.

Stewart said that not enough people in developing countries have access to cancer drugs, and that pharmaceutical companies should introduce differential pricing to make the drugs more affordable for poorer countries.

"WHO has developed an essential list of 15-20 agents that provide the basic cancer armamentarium", Stewart added. "Hopefully these are the drugs that could be subject to the most favourable differential pricing to make them available."

If drug companies do not introduce differential pricing, the next phase would be voluntary licensing, Bengoa said, which would allow manufacturers in developing countries to make cancer drugs at a reasonable price.

However, if differential pricing and voluntary licensing do not help improve access to cancer drugs in developing countries, "then one would have to get into stronger political agendas to get cancer drugs to the right place", Bengo said.

Helen Frankish