World Cancer Day: Increasing global burden highlights need to ‘close the care gap’
World Cancer Day will be observed Feb. 4.
Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) created World Cancer Day in 2000 to educate the public about the importance of early detection and treatment, encourage elected representatives to commit ample resources to reduce cancer mortality, and increase awareness that lifestyle behaviors have a considerable effect on cancer risk.
This year's World Cancer Day — the last of a 3-year campaign with the theme "Close the Care Gap" — comes amid a rapidly increasing global cancer burden.
An estimated 20 million new cancer cases occurred worldwide in 2022, according to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), WHO’s cancer agency. Annual incidence will to reach 35 million — a 77% increase — by 2050, according to IARC projections. The trend will be driven by population growth and aging, obesity, alcohol or tobacco use, and air pollution or other environmental risk factors, according to the agency.
The impact will be felt disproportionately by individuals with the lowest resources to manage their cancer burden, Freddie Bray, BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD, head of IARC's cancer surveillance branch, said in a press release.
A global WHO survey on universal health coverage showed only 39% of participating countries covered the basics of cancer management as part of financed core health services for all citizens.
The 3-year "Close the Care Gap" theme for World Cancer Day has been designed to highlight barriers related to socioeconomic factors, stigma and discrimination that prevent many people around the world from accessing potentially life-saving preventive services, screening, treatment and care.
In conjunction with this year's observance, UICC released its World Cancer Day 2024 Equity Report.
“[The report] shines a light on the barriers to care and significant disparities in outcomes due to prejudices and assumptions based on socioeconomic status, gender and other cultural norms, race and ethnicity, age, geographical location, sexual orientation and disability,” Prof. Jeff Dunn, AO, president of UICC, said in a press release. “More importantly, it provides local insights into the challenges we face in diverse regions, guiding us toward targeted solutions.”
The report included nine recommendations to governments around the world to bridge the cancer gap. These included fostering patient-centered care that acknowledges the unique needs of all patient populations; increasing funding for cancer research; establishing a population-based cancer registry to guide policy decisions and resource allocation; and addressing systemic social determinants of health that may limit a person’s ability to access cancer care.
In conjunction with World Cancer Day, Healio shares the following updates that highlight disparities in cancer care or efforts to reduce disparities in treatment and outcomes.
1. Federal research funding appeared to be allocated more toward cancer types with higher incidence among white people than members of other racial and ethnic groups. Read more.
2. Social determinants of health for children and young adults with leukemia and lymphoma must be researched as much as the diseases themselves to improve care, according to a presenter at ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. Read more.
3. Cancer-related mortality and leading causes of cancer death occurred more frequently in nonmetropolitan areas and among individuals with limited education, according to a biennial report from American Cancer Society. Read more.
4. Cancer clinical trial participation appeared lower among Black and Latinx patients compared with white patients with various cancer types. The findings indicate a need for regulatory guidance to improve diversity in cancer clinical trials, researchers concluded. Read more.
5. Black men with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer achieved OS and PFS comparable to white men when treated in a clinical trial setting, according to results of a randomized phase 3 trial. The findings suggest equal access to health care resources can help alleviate racial disparities in survival among Black men with advanced prostate cancer, researchers concluded. Read more.
6. Certain clinical and socioeconomic factors appeared to predict delays in time to treatment initiation among patients with various cancer types. Read more.
7. Hospitals that serve a high volume of Black and Hispanic patients are less likely to offer advanced medical equipment and critical services shown to boost the quality and effectiveness of cancer care. Read more.
8. Healio spoke with Rachel Freedman, MD, MPH, medical oncologist and clinical researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, about how better clinician-patient communication and other strategies may help mitigate ethnic and racial disparities. Read more.
References:
- Global cancer burden growing, amidst mounting need for services (press release). Available at: https://www.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/pr345_E.pdf. Published Feb. 1, 2024. Accessed Feb. 1, 2024.
- This World Cancer Day, UICC issues a call to action and offers actionable recommendations to close the care gap (press release). Available at: https://www.uicc.org/news/world-cancer-day/uicc-issues-call-action-and-offers-actionable-recommendations-close-care-gap. Published Jan. 29, 2024. Accessed Jan. 30, 2024.