American Cancer Society Warns Against Explosion In Cancer Deaths Among Women

Cancer deaths, however, were proportionally much higher in low and middle-income countries with reduced access to diagnosis and treatment.

The countries with the highest death rates were Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea.

Reports from American Cancer Society and Lancet Studies have warned of an explosion in cancer deaths among women, with a toll, mainly from breast cancer, of around 5.5 million a year by 2030 —roughly the population of Denmark.

This represented a near 60 per cent increase in less than two decades, states an analysis conducted by the American Cancer Society, ACS, released on Tuesday at the World Cancer Congress in Paris. As the global population grows and ages, the highest toll will be among women in poor and middle-income countries it said, with much of it from cancers which are largely preventable.

The highest ratio of cancer cases per population group are still reported in high-income countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia, but this was partly due to better access to screening and detection.

Breast and lung cancer are the two most common types in both rich and poor nations, with colorectal cancer the number three killer in developed countries and cervical cancer in less-developed ones.