No fewer than 10 million people died of cancer across the world in 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said, IgbereTV reports.
The global health agency disclosed this in a statement to commemorate World Cancer Day 2022 which has the theme ‘Closing the Care Gap’.
Stressing that the disease has become one of the world’s leading causes of death, it warned that the death toll would continue to rise in years to come.
“In 2021, the world crossed a sobering new threshold – an estimated 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer, and 10 million died,” said the statement. “These numbers will continue to rise in the decades ahead. And yet all cancers can be treated, and many can be prevented or cured.
“Care for cancer, however, like so many other diseases, reflects the inequalities and inequities of our world. The clearest distinction is between high- and low-income countries, with comprehensive treatment reportedly available in more than 90 per cent of high-income countries but less than 15 per cent of low-income countries.”
According to the WHO, the survival of children diagnosed with cancer is more than 80 per cent in high-income countries and less than 30 per cent in low- and middle-income countries.
It revealed that the survival for breast cancer five years after diagnosis has exceeded 80 per cent in most high-income countries, compared with 66 per cent and 40 per cent in India and South Africa respectively.
