CR3 News Magazine 2019 VOL 2: FEBRUARY Black History: Radon Legacy | Page 44
Contact: Becky Bunn
IASLC Public Relations Manager
[email protected] | 720-325-2946
2018 LUNG CANCER in AFRICA FACT SHEET
THE REALITY:
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Every year, lung cancer causes more than 1.7
million deaths —more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. i
Funding for lung cancer research is critical due to the disease’s pervasiveness and because doctors often
find lung cancer in later stages, when it is less treatable. New advances hold great promise for screening,
early detection and personalized therapies, but they need continued financial support.
Not only smokers get lung cancer. For example, in the U.S. about 31,000 people die each year from non-
smoking-related lung cancer (about the same number die from prostate cancer).
Other causes of lung cancer include radon gas in homes (20,000 deaths/year), workplace exposure,
second-hand smoke, cancer treatments and genetics. ii
Lung cancer does not have to be fatal. Groundbreaking new treatments dramatically alter lung cancer
survival rates every day.
The number of new cases of cancer is expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades. iii
Late-stage presentation and inaccessible diagnosis and treatment are common. In 2017, only 26% of
low-income countries reported having pathology services generally available in the public sector.
Treatment services are reportedly available in more than 90% of high-income countries versus in less
than 30% of low-income countries. iv
REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT – AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST:
Although lung cancer incidence and mortality rates and are still low in the Arab world as compared to
Europe or the U.S., they are gradually increasing in the region. v
Approximately 70% of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries. vi
Percentage data for both sexes of lung cancer in the Arab world show that 68.1% of the Arab countries
have lung cancer as one of the top five most frequently diagnosed types of cancer. vii
Between 1990 and 1997, cigarette consumption increased 24% in the Middle East, one of only two
regions of the world where cigarette sales increased during that period. viii
Only 1 in 5 low- and middle-income countries have the necessary data to drive cancer policy. ix
Despite major advances in understanding and treating cancer, the five-year relative survival rate in North
Africa and the Middle East is only 8%. x
50% of African countries do not allow morphine. xi
95% of Africans don’t get cancer therapy. xii
Thirty of 55 African countries have NO radiotherapy units. xiii
Twenty or 30 years from now, we will see a peak in lung cancer cases in Africa. People in Africa began
smoking later than in the U.S. and Europe and there is an approximate 40-year latency period between
when one starts smoking and lung cancer peak. xiv
-more-
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