Advancing World Health Day: “Increased exposure to cancer risk factors is a ticking time bomb”

By Nathan Grey, MPH, National vice president of global health for the American Cancer Society

Cancer is among the most preventable and the most curable of the major chronic life-threatening diseases. Unfortunately, it remains a leading killer worldwide. In 2008, there were an estimated 12.7 million new cases of cancer and 7.6 million cancer deaths (GLOBOCAN 2008, IARC). Cancer accounts for 1 in 8 deaths throughout the world. That's more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. While this loss of life alone is staggering, the impact on those affected, their caregivers, and society-at-large is also profound. 

Several factors account for the growing global burden ofcancer including aging populations, tobacco use, poor diet and lack of exercise, and exposure to infectious agents associated with cancer. Poverty, gender inequities, and misconceptions about cancer's causes and treatments often exacerbate the situation. In addition, there are large disparities in the capacity of health care systems, governmental programs, and nongovernmental organizations to serve their populations. Many low and middle-income countries have few, if any, early detection and prevention efforts, and treatment options are often limited.

The growth and aging of populations is particularly important because it represents both a remarkable public health triumph and the single greatest driver behind the increases in total cancer cases. During the past 50 years, growing wealth and economic opportunity, better nutrition and housing, safer food and water, improved hygiene and sanitation, changes in reproductive practices, and increased use of antibiotics and vaccines have led to better control of communicable diseases, reductions in childhood mortality, increases in life expectancy, and ultimately growing and aging populations. Simultaneously, tobacco's long tentacles have spread their influence around the world, thanks to globalization and urbanization facilitating the broad and aggressive marketing of tobacco products. This globalization has led to the growth of tobacco use (with 1.25 billion smokers worldwide), tobacco-caused morbidity and mortality, and increased adoption of a "western" lifestyle. People worldwide are eating more high calorie foods and reducing their physical activity, which are contributing to increases in overweight and obesity and the diseases associated with them. There are a staggering 1.6 billion people who are overweight worldwide and 400 million who are obese. The end result of these major trends is an increase in people with chronic (decades-long) exposure to cancer risk factors, and as a result, an increase in the number of cancer cases.

Growing and aging populations represent a public health triumph, while increased exposure to cancer risk factors, on the other hand, is a ticking time bomb. Without intervention, we will no doubt see an explosion of new cancer cases and cancer deaths throughout the world. The American Cancer Society and our partners worldwide are working to control major cancer risk factors and to prevent this unnecessary tragedy. We have made a major commitment to tobacco control through advocacy training, seed grants, economic and epidemiologic research, and information tools such as the Tobacco Atlas. We support programs to prevent chronic exposure to cancer and to detect and treat breast and cervical cancers; and we support efforts to educate people about the dangers of obesity and sedentary lifestyles through publications such as Global Cancer Facts and Figures and the Cancer Atlas. In these and other ways, the American Cancer Society is committed to reducing the burden of cancer among all age groups, including the growing number of older people throughout the world, because we believe it’s not only about how long you live, but also about how well you live.

What is World Health Day? 

Every year, World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization in 1948. Each year a new theme highlights a priority area of concern for WHO. The topic of World Health Day in 2012 is aging and health with the theme "Good health adds life to years". The focus is how good health throughout life can help older men and women lead full and productive lives and be a resource for their families and communities. Aging concerns each and every one of us – whether young or old, male or female, rich or poor – no matter where we live.

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[Ilviya]

that obesity is oh so ioaprtmnt as a cause of cancer, but I defy you to find the data that would actually support this statement. Yes, some cancers are definitely related to obesity, but overall most cancers aren't. The information that supposedly supports the statement isn't even in the report anywhere but in some inaccessible supplement. The International Obesity Task Force and its chair were ioaprtmnt participants and the IOTF started life as a drug-company funded lobbying group (funded generously mostly by Roche) to get governments to change their obesity policies (basically to start paying for weight loss drugs for the populace). Gee, could that have some relation to why the WCRF report says obesity is so ioaprtmnt as a cause of cancer, when most objective sources actually estimate something much lower? The report seems to emulate the approach of the tobacco industry - put together some gigantic report that no one can read and study in full, then put out some misleading summary about what the report shows.

[Saki]

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Actually cancer is curable in their first stage, but after some time that is not possible; all peoples are knows that tobacco is creates some cancer, but many people are eating these. I think breast and cervical cancer are very dangerous and these are not curable in starting. This world health day is a best day of the world, so thanks for sharing this.

[Rio]

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[Community Health Care]

“It’s not only about how long you live, but also about how well you live.” – very well said. I hope more efforts are focused on decreasing cancer risk factors.