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PARIS, France (AFP) – Cancer will kill nearly 10 million people this year, experts said Wednesday, warning that the global burden of the disease continues to rise despite better prevention and earlier diagnosis.
According to a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), about 18.1 million new cases of cancer have been predicted worldwide for 2018, with 9.6 million deaths.
This represents an increase of 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million deaths reported in the agency's latest assessment six years ago.
The cost increases as populations grow and age, and people in developing countries adopt unhealthy, high-risk lifestyles traditionally associated with the wealthiest economies.
The emphasis on prevention – encouraging people to exercise, quit smoking and eating healthy – has led to a decline in some types of cancer in some population groups, according to IARC.
Still, the total number of new cases is ahead of efforts to contain the disease.
"These new figures show that much more needs to be done to address the alarming increase in the global burden of cancer and that prevention has a key role to play," said IARC Director Christopher Wild.
One in five men and one in six women will develop cancer during their lifetime, according to the study, and the World Health Organization expects the disease to be the leading cause of cancer. deaths in the 21st century.
There are dozens of types of cancer and the agency has found significant differences between countries due to a multitude of socioeconomic factors.
The biggest killer
Unsurprisingly, Asia, given its huge population, accounted for nearly half of the new cases and more than half of all cancer deaths worldwide in 2018.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of death, responsible for some 1.8 million deaths, nearly a quarter of global costs.
For women, breast cancer accounted for 15% of all cancer deaths, followed by lung cancer (13.8%) and colorectal cancer (9.5%).
The figures highlight a worrying increase in lung cancer rates among women – it is now the leading cause of cancer death among women in 28 countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, China and New Caledonia. Zealand.
The data showed that the types of cancer traditionally associated with lifestyles in rich countries – more overweight people less likely to exercise – were becoming more prevalent in developing countries.
"The environment is one of the things that happen during transitions to high levels of socio-economic development," said Freddie Bray, IARC's Cancer Surveillance Officer. AFP.
"There is more physical inactivity and this proves to be a particularly high risk factor for colon cancer, for example."
Missing moment
Bray said models using current cancer statistics and predictable trends predict as many as 29 million new cases a year by 2040.
"The extent to which this is becoming a major public health problem and the diversity of cancers we are seeing in different regions is also a striking point," said Bray.
Anti-cancer measures could take the form of stricter tobacco control measures to limit lung cancer or initiatives to encourage physical activity to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
But the study cautioned that global efforts to control one of humanity's biggest causes of mortality "still lacked momentum."
"From a social or economic point of view, the numbers are going up," said Bray.
This means investing in prevention and public health programs and developing the capacity of health services, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
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