According to a survey report launched by World Health Organization ahead of World Cancer Day  2013  more than half of all countries are struggling to prevent cancer and to provide appropriate long-term treatment and care to avoid human suffering and protect countries’ social and economic development.

The reports says few countries have effective cancer control  and treatment facilities .

“Cancer should not be a death sentence anywhere in the world as there are proven ways to prevent and cure many cancers,” Oleg Chestnov, Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health at the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a statement about the global capacity survey.

“In order to reduce exposure to risk factors leading to cancer and ensure that every person living with cancer gets access to appropriate care and treatment, comprehensive cancer control programmes need to be set up in every country.”

Seventeen per cent of African countries and 27 per cent of low-income countries have cancer control plans with a budget to support implementation, according to the survey.

In contrast, South-east Asia generally has the greatest percentage of countries with policies, plans or strategies related to cancer, and all of them have some type of policy for diabetes, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use, which are known risk factors for some cancers.

“Overall, fewer than half of the countries have population-based cancer registries critical to capture high-quality information on the numbers and types of cancer cases.” adds the report

By UP