ISLAMABAD: Around 118,631 people, including 58,934 men and 59,697 women, in Pakistan, lost their lives to cancer during the year 2022, while 185,748 new cancer cases were reported across the country.
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialised body for cancer under the World Health Organisation (WHO), has stated the above in its latest report.
More than 35 million new cancer cases are expected globally in 2050 and a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cases resulting in 9.7 million deaths worldwide in 2022 has been predicted by the IARC in its report.
The agency said tobacco, alcohol and obesity are key risk factors behind increasing incidence of cancer, with air pollution continuing to be a key driver of environmental risk factors.
According to the Pakistan fact sheet of the IARC, breast cancer was the leading cause of deaths in the country, with the highest number of cases, followed by lip, oral cavity and lung cancers.
Of the 98,180 new cancer cases reported among women, breast cancer was on the top, followed by lip, oral cavity and ovarian cancers. Meanwhile, of the 87,568 new cancer cases among men, lip, and oral cavity cancer was the leading cancer followed by lung and colorectum cancers.
Around 30,682 women died due to breast cancer in Pakistan in 2022 while 15,915 people including both men and women died due to lip, oral cavity cancer, 9,464 people lost their lives due to lung cancer, around 9,447 people died due to colorectum cancer, around 9,289 died because of Oesophagus cancer while 110,951 people died due to other types of cancers.
WHO also published survey results from 115 countries, showing a majority of countries do not adequately finance priority cancer and palliative care services, as part of universal health coverage (UHC).
In 2022, there were an estimated 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million deaths worldwide. The estimated number of people who were alive within 5 years following a cancer diagnosis was 53.5 million. About 1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, approximately 1 in 9 men and 1 in 12 women die from the disease.
The global WHO survey on UHC and cancer shows that only 39% of participating countries covered the basics of cancer management as part of their financed core health services for all citizens, ‘health benefit packages’ (HBP). Only 28% of participating countries additionally covered care for people who require palliative care, including pain relief in general, and not just linked to cancer.
The new estimates available on IARC’s Global Cancer Observatory show that 10 types of cancer collectively comprised around two-thirds of new cases and deaths globally in 2022. Data covers 185 countries and 36 cancers.
Lung cancer was the most commonly occurring cancer worldwide with 2.5 million new cases accounting for 12.4% of the total new cases. Female breast cancer ranked second (2.3 million cases, 11.6%), followed by colorectal cancer (1.9 million cases, 9.6%), prostate cancer (1.5 million cases, 7.3%), and stomach cancer (970 000 cases, 4.9%).
Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death (1.8 million deaths, 18.7% of the total cancer deaths) followed by colorectal cancer (900,000 deaths, 9.3%), liver cancer (760,000 deaths, 7.8%), breast cancer (670,000 deaths, 6.9%) and stomach cancer (660,000 deaths, 6.8%). Lung cancer’s re-emergence as the most common cancer is likely related to persistent tobacco use in Asia.
There were some differences by sex in incidence and mortality from the global total for both sexes. For women, the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death was breast cancer, whereas it was lung cancer for men. Breast cancer was the most common cancer in women in the vast majority of countries (157 of 185).
For men, prostate and colorectal cancers were the second and third most commonly occurring cancers, while liver and colorectal cancers were the second and third most common causes of cancer death. For women, lung and colorectal cancer were second and third for both the number of new cases and deaths.
Leave feedback about this