Prioritizing cancer control: Prevention, screening, and advanced treatment
Most recent statistics on cancer have shown a significant increase in the rate of cancer globally that makes awareness and early detection urgent today. In the latest report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2022, nearly twenty million new cases of cancer were recorded along with 9.7 million deaths. These statistics have become more disturbing since it is estimated that the annual number of new cases will rise to thirty five million by 2050. In Southeast Asia, new cases increased to 1.1 million and have caused death to seven hundred thousand people in 2022 alone, with breast, lung, and colorectal cancers as three of the leading causes. Part of addressing this global trend, the World Health Organization (WHO) set goals to reduce the impact of non-communicable diseases (NCD), including cancer, through prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care, prioritizing a holistic approach to managing and reducing cancer cases. Specialized c...