Cancer to be top killer by 2010: WHO

[theblackalchemist]

Cancer to be top killer by 2010: WHO

 

ATLANTA: Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, part of a trend that should more than double global cancer cases

and deaths by 2030, international health experts reported.

 

Rising tobacco use in developing countries is believed to be a huge reason for the shift, particularly in China and India, where 40 per cent of the world's smokers now live.

 

So is better diagnosing of cancer, along with the downward trend in infectious diseases that used to be the world's leading killers.

 

Cancer diagnoses around the world have steadily been rising and are expected to hit 12 million this year. Global cancer deaths are expected to reach 7 million, according to the new report by the World Health Organisation.

 

An annual rise of 1 per cent in cases and deaths is expected - with even larger increases in China, Russia and India. That means new cancer cases will likely mushroom to 27 million annually by 2030, with deaths hitting 17 million.

 

Underlying all this is an expected expansion of the world's population - there will be more people around to get cancer.

 

The report was released yesterday by WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer at a news conference with officials from the American Cancer Society, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Susan G Komen for the Cure and the National Cancer Institute of Mexico.

Cancer to be top killer by 2010: WHO-Health/Sci-The Times of India