Cancer Control In Africa

A global conference on Cancer Control in Africa was recently held in London (10-11th May) to raise awareness of the looming cancer epidemic facing the African continent. The meeting was organised by Prof David Kerr, University of Oxford and founder of AfrOx (the Africa Oxford Cancer Consortium) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It brought together over 120 delegates, including African Health Ministers and their representatives, the World Health Organization, The World Bank, The African Development Bank, members of the UK parliament, leading international oncologists, every major global cancer/health care organisation and charity, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and investment bankers. Cancer is a global problem accounting for 12.5% of all deaths worldwide, a greater percentage than is caused by HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria combined. By 2020 there are expected to be 15 million new cases of cancer every year, 70% of which will be in developing countries, where governments are least prepared to address the growing cancer burden and where survival rates are often less than half those of more developed countries. African countries will account for over a million new cancer cases a year by 2020 and they are the least able of all developing countries to cope, having few cancer care services. Lack of resources and basic infrastructure mean that most Africans have no access to cancer screening, early diagnosis, treatment or palliative care. Life-saving radiotherapy is available in only 21 of Africa's 53 countries, or to less than 20% of the population, and consequently cancer is a sentence to a painful and distressing death. At the same time, over one third of cancer deaths are due to preventable causes such as viral infection, poor nutrition and widespread tobacco use. The main output from the London meeting on Cancer Control in Africa was the London Declaration (

(Author: www.afrox.org)

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