The World Health Organization (WHO) has disclosed that over 500,000 Africans died of cancer in the year 2022 as it called for urgent interventions to avert a projected one million annual deaths by 2030, considering about 882,000 new cancer cases reported in the African Region the same year.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, in a message to commemorate the 2024 World Cancer Day, noted that more cases and deaths may be recorded yearly if there are no urgent interventions.
Moeti also said the cancer situation in Africa is disheartening, noting that approximately 882,000 new cases occurred in the African Region in 2022. She said about 573, 653 deaths were also recorded in the same year.
The regional director also noted that about 50 per cent of new cancer cases in adults in Africa are due to breast, cervical, prostate, colorectal, and liver cancers.
She said if urgent measures are not taken, cancer mortality in the region is projected to reach about one million deaths per year by 2030.
“Also, in 20 years, cancer death rates in Africa will overtake the global average of 30 per cent,” she said.
“This is more so because cancer survival rates in the WHO African region currently average 12 per cent, much lower than the average of over 80 per cent in High-Income Countries.
Moeti commended the progress made in cancer prevention and care in the region, noting that 17 countries have introduced high-performance-based screening tests in line with the WHO recommendations.
“Also, 28 of our Member States have introduced nationwide Human Papillomavirus vaccination to reach about 60 per cent of the priority population targeted with HPV vaccination,” she said.
She called on the region’s countries, communities, partners, and civil society to unite and foster universal access to cancer prevention and care.
Moeti said stakeholders must identify feasible priorities, implement evidence-based population-wide interventions and invest in cancer control.
She urged countries to use the updated WHO Best Buys , the facilitative tool designed to enable governments to select lifesaving policies and interventions for Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
“Leaders are responsible for ensuring that cancer prevention and care deploy technologies and therapies that are available at low cost to affected persons and their families, which are value for money. Furthermore, countries should strengthen information systems to gather quality data for decision-making.”
She reiterated the importance of civil society, especially organizations of cancer survivors or persons with lived cancer experiences, in the fight against cancer in Africa.
World Cancer Day is an international day marked yearly on 4 February to raise awareness of cancer and encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
Between 2022 and 2024, the focus of World Cancer Day is to help “Close the cancer gap.”
This year marks the third and final year of the campaign. The theme for the 2024 World Cancer Day is “Together, we challenge those in power”.
Moeti said this theme encompasses the global demand for leaders to prioritize and invest in cancer prevention and care and to do more to achieve a just and cancer-free world.
She said the theme is auspicious as it reinforces all persons and groups’ universal right to health.
“We believe that regardless of socioeconomic status, geographic location, age, and gender, every person must be afforded an equal chance at the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.”
