More than one third of the cancer deaths in Africa are due to cancers that are easily preventable and treatable if detected early.

Professor Lynette Denny, AORTIC’€™s Secretary Treasurer said it was important for Africa to have its own meeting as the cancer issues on the continent were unique. Cancers in Africa usually presented at a late stage due to a combination of lack of access, poor health care infrastructure, unaffordable health care and lack of understanding among the public. A large percentage of these deaths are infection related for example cancer of the cervix, Burkett’€™s Lymphoma, liver cancer and bladder cancer. Denny said there was also very little awareness of cancer in Africa.

AORTIC’€™s meeting in Tanzania aims to bring together health care professionals, politicians, policy makers and the public to work on the cancer issue at multiple levels from creating Africa appropriate National Cancer Control Programmes, to advocacy and raising awareness, to research and training in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care

A report released at the watershed LIVESTRONG cancer summit in Dublin earlier this year confirmed that Africa will be hardest hit with a massive treatment gap leading to people dying painful and undignified deaths.

The LIVESTRONG summit was the first international meeting which brought together world leaders, corporations, non-governmental organizations and survivors to share experiences and make commitments towards the global fight.

The summit reiterated priority actions as a roadmap to making cancer a global priority. These included:

–                   National cancer plan development: Every government should develop and adopt a cancer plan with a co-ordinated strategy, goals and timeline for addressing the burden of the disease within their borders.

–                   Investment and funding for cancer research, prevention and treatment: It should be prioritised as a public health investment that will yield significant future savings.

–                   Investments in the public health infrastructure and education.

–                   Reducing stigma for cancer patients and survivors: Cancer patients and survivors deserve to live -and die- with respect and dignity, not discrimination, because of their disease.

The LIVESTRONG report, authored by the Economist Intelligence Unit, made conservative estimates and projections which showed that lower- and middle-income countries made up for 65 percent of the treatment gap and that high income countries, representing 15 percent of the world population, contributed to 94 percent of the global expenditure.

In addition to the economic cost, the report estimated that there would be 30 percent (3,9-million) more new cases in the world in 2020 than 2009 while the largest percentage increase in new cancers was projected to occur in Africa.

Studies are showing that cancers have progressed to where they are incurable in 80 percent of patients in the developing world.

Denny points out that the difference between Africa the richer countries is on many levels.

In richer countries there are usually well developed national cancer control programmes which are well resourced and often bolstered by non-governmental organisations.

Secondly, prevention is resourced and valued such as pap smear screening programmes and vaccination against hepatitis b.

Thirdly, access to diagnosis and treatment is almost universal so cancers are diagnosed at a treatable stage.

And finally, treatment facilities are extensive, up to date, effective and available – unlike the situation in sub-Saharan Africa where only 20 countries have access to radiation facilities and very few can afford to use chemotherapy.

Speaking at the LIVESTRONG summit in August Dr Ala Alwan of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the rise of cancer created an enormous burden on health systems around the world.

‘€œBut this is not just a health challenge; it undermines economic growth and acts as a chronic poverty trap for the poorest countries. Bilateral and multilateral donors are not responding to requests from developing countries to support them in building sustainable institutional capacities to address non-communicable disease because these issues are beyond those targeted by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We need to take a close look at addressing that gap,’€ said Alwan.

The MDGs, accepted by 189 nations, are established and accepted goals, several of which address the health of countries. However, cancer is not currently included in these goals and as a result it is an uphill battle to receive support, visibility and funding to address cancer.

Dr John Seffrin, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, which is increasingly investing in cancer programmes in Africa, said there were discussions taking place with WHO officials to change the MDG situation.

‘€œThe WHO is absolutely committed to having non-communicable diseases and cancer in particular as part of the MDGs. We need to sound the alarm to the rest of the world that this is a problem that every nation will face. The magnitude of the problem is unknown in the world,’€ said Seffrin who describes the disease as an act of violence.

‘€œFirstly cancer patients have to fight for their lives and then they have to fight for the care they need,’€ he said.

Efforts to curb cancer and implement tobacco control measures often go hand in hand. Tobacco is the only product that harms every person exposed to it and kills half of its regular users.

However, despite efforts to contain the use of tobacco, consumption is increasing as the world population grows, placing further strain on already overburdened health systems in developing countries.

The third edition of The Tobacco Atlas paints a gloomy picture showing that one in three people in the world are still smoking, one in two children are exposed to passive smoking and one in two smokers will die in their middle ages.

Seffrin has said previously that ‘€œthe tobacco industry and their products killed 100-million people’€. If current interventions fail, this figure is projected to be one billion people during this century while an increasing proportion of deaths will occur in lower and middle income countries.

‘€œHaving cancer is a life changing event. I think it has something to do with people knowing that this is the real deal. It’€™s about knowing that every cancer has the potential to kill you,’€ says Seffrin.

By next year cancer is projected to become the leading cause of deaths worldwide ‘€“ claiming more lives worldwide than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.