WHO raises alarm over increasing rate of cancer cases linked to lifestyle

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Published (Updated) on Tuesday, February 4, 2014
World Health Organisation has raised alarm over the increasing rate of cancer cases. Recent causes of cancer are linked to lifestyle, such as alcohol abuse, sugar consumption and obesity. WHO predicted that the number of new cases could soar by 70% to nearly 25 million a year over the next two decades.

According to experts some of the cancer cases are preventable because they are linked to lifestyle. Also, the World Cancer Report shows that alcohol-attributable cancers were responsible for a total of 337,400 deaths worldwide in 2010, mostly among men. The majority were liver cancer deaths, but drinking alcohol is also a risk for cancers of the mouth, oesophagus, bowel, stomach, pancreas, breast and others.

The report clamors for efforts to reduce the amount of cola, lemonade and other drinks containing substantial amounts of added sugar. Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed form of the disease among men (16.7% of cases) and the biggest killer (23.6% of deaths).

Breast cancer is the most common diagnosis in women (25.2%) and caused 14.7% of deaths, which is a drop and now only just exceeds lung cancer deaths in women (13.8%). Bowel, prostate and stomach cancer are the other most common diagnoses. Some of these cases has also been linked to Obesity.

Cancer rates can be brought down by relatively simple interventions. There is a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) which causes most cases of cervical cancer deaths in the developing world. Cheap and simple screening techniques could detect cases early, when they are treatable.
There are also vaccines against hepatitis B, which could prevent many liver cancers. Infections are responsible for about 16% of all cancers. The increasing rate of Lung cancer cases can also be reduced by taking concrete measures against smoking.

WHO also predicted that least developed regions will bear the brunt of the cancer increase in the coming years. More than 60% of cases and 70% of deaths occur in Africa, Asia and Central and South America.
News ▶ Agencies and Media

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