This is TERRIFYING!
Cancer cases are expected to rise by 75% by 2030… and a fifth of those are going to be entirely preventable!
Developing countries are getting sicker and sicker after picking up bad habits from the west — and we can totally see how that’s happening.
We aren’t really the ideal role models!
Not only that, but mix it with population growth and aging, and it isn’t that hard to explain the increase.
Here’s the real deal, guys: infection based cancers are shrinking. That’s good. That’s great, actually, and we’re SUPER happy about that!
The problem is that we’re ignoring the preventable beginnings of other forms of cancer. For example: bad diet and exercise habits, smoking and drinking too much alcohol. Things like that are linked to cancers of the lung, colon and breast, and yet we aren’t doing much about them!
They estimated there would be 22.2 million new cancer cases in 184 countries by 2030. That’s up from an estimated 12.7 million cases in 2008. There WERE some uncertainties in the data, though, like the fact that cancer registries in Africa, Asia and Latin America covered less than 10 percent of the population.
The whole world needs to focus on both prevention and treatment, but for poorer countries the emphasis HAS to be on prevention. In the end, they might not be able to afford the treatments for the growing numbers!
Cancer is THE WORST. We wish the world didn’t have to deal with it!
Let’s fight back!
We hope that new plan the World Health Ministers have works!
[Image via AP Images.]
