More than 15 million people throughout the world are diagnosed with cancer every year. Unfortunately, more than three-fourths of these people will not be able to access safe and proper surgery designed to control or cure the deadly disease. Surgery is required in 80% of all cases of cancer.
People in low-income countries are the least likely to be able access such surgery. In Zambia and Mongolia, only 5% of patients can obtain basic cancer surgery. The resources for such surgeries are scarce in these countries. However thousands of people in these countries are diagnosed with cancer every year.
So while the demand for surgery is very high, the supply remains unacceptably low.
More than 70% of all deaths related to cancer worldwide are said to occur in countries with low levels of income.
Leader of the cancer policy institute at King’s College London Richard Sullivan says, “(The) access to safe, affordable cancer surgical services is dismal.”
Cancer researchers are calling for “radical” action to establish high-quality training programs to help reduce the problem. These programs would allow more doctors and cancer specialists to perform basic cancer surgery on patients in poorer countries.
Meanwhile, another report showed that investing $97 billion to $184 billion in radiotherapy technology could save the lives of millions of cancer victims.
In the United States, nearly 1.7 million individuals are diagnosed with cancer annually. Almost 600,000 United States citizens are expected to die from the disease this year.
The most common types of cancers include breast cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, prostate cancer, colon and rectum cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma of the skin, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, thyroid cancer, kidney and renal pelvis cancer, endometrial cancer, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer.
By 2020, national expenditures for cancer treatment in the United States are expected to reach $156 billion.
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