Results from the largest cancer study ever published—released last month by the Lancet—show that cancer kills more people in low- and middle-income countries than HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
“The reason that some countries lag behind is not surprising; it’s a matter of how much is invested in cancer care,” NPR reported on the study. “Dr. Corey Casper, head of global oncology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, met a doctor in Uganda a few years ago who was then seeing 10,000 patients a year ‘in a facility that had…no roof, inconsistent electricity, and no meds.’ What’s more, says Casper, he was the only cancer doctor in Uganda and four surrounding countries.”
Cancer and other non-communicable diseases will not get all the attention and resources they deserve in 2015, because Ebola will likely stunt global progress in addressing them this year. But they will continue to be a growing challenge for us all, including frontline health workers around the world.
- See more at: http://www.intrahealth.org/blog/top-10-global-health-issues-watch-2015#.ViIrolU_zCQ