The United Nations World Health Organization said that the Covid-19 pandemic had a “profound” impact on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer worldwide, noting that breast cancer has become the most common type of disease.
For his part, Dr. Andre Elbawi, from the Non-Communicable Diseases Department of the World Health Organization, said that more than a year ago since the start of the new Corona virus crisis, its impact on cancer care has been stark, as “cancer services were partially or completely disrupted by the pandemic in 50 % Of governments provide these services.
“Delays in diagnosis are common. Interruptions to or abandonment of treatment have increased dramatically,” he added, adding that this is likely to have an impact on the total number of cancer deaths in the coming years.
Dr. Elbawy argues that healthcare professionals are under great pressure to provide services and that there is a significant decline in research and enrollment in clinical trials. “To put it simply, the consequences of the pandemic on cancer control efforts have been profound,” he said, adding an unspecified number of countries of all income levels were affected.
Amidst the uncertainty about the Covid-19 vaccine that may be best suited to the health status of cancer patients, Dr. Elbaway said that the data from the ongoing clinical vaccine trials have not yet been published, and he said: “We appreciate that cancer patients are considered in these clinical trials because the evidence has shown that Cancers are more susceptible to disease and death associated with Covid-19 due to their reduced immunity. “
According to the World Health Organization, the economic burden of cancer on societies is huge and growing. In 2010, it was estimated to cost $ 1.16 trillion.
Dr. Elbawi added: “In 2020, the number of people diagnosed with cancer worldwide reached 19.3 million, with the number of deaths increasing to 10 million.”
According to the UN agency concerned with health, there were 2.3 million new breast cancer cases in 2020, representing nearly 12% of all cancer cases. It is also the leading cause of death from cancer among women worldwide.
Dr. Elbawi pointed out that “for the first time, breast cancer is now the most common type of cancer worldwide, followed by lung cancer, which has historically been the main cause of most cancer cases, and colon cancer is ranked third.”
The WHO official warned that the cancer burden will increase further in the coming years for a variety of reasons, including population growth, as the number of new cases worldwide in 2040 is likely to increase by 47% from 2020.
The World Health Organization said in a statement that the largest increases will be in low- and middle-income countries, where diagnosis is more common in the later stages, with less access to good and affordable diagnosis and treatment.
The World Health Organization highlighted efforts to treat cervical cancer, and indicated that it is the fourth most common type of cancer among women worldwide, with an estimated 604,000 new cases in 2020, 700,000 injuries and 400,000 deaths expected in 2030.
People from poor countries are disproportionately affected, with nearly 90% of global deaths in 2020 due to cervical cancer occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
The United Nations Health Agency called for better availability of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, low-cost approaches to screening and treating cancer “before it develops into an invasive cancer,” as well as new approaches in surgical training.
“To move forward on the road to eliminating cervical cancer, we must achieve three goals by 2030: 90% of girls receive a full HPV vaccination by the age of 15 years; and 70% of women undergo testing with a high-quality test upon puberty. 35 years of age, and undergo another test upon reaching the age of 45; treating 90 percent of women with cervical cancer. “
The Health Organization stated that achieving these goals will lead to a decrease in cases by more than 70% by 2050 and help avoid 4.5 million deaths from cervical cancer.
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