As the world marks World Cancer Day with the theme: “United by Unique”, a new analysis by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its cancer research arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has revealed that four in every 10 cancer cases globally could be prevented.
The study, released ahead of World Cancer Day on February 4, estimated that 37 per cent of all new cancer cases recorded worldwide in 2022, about 7.1 million cases, were linked to preventable causes, underscoring the enormous, and often overlooked, power of prevention in reducing the global cancer burden.
Drawing on data from 185 countries and 36 cancer types, the analysis examined 30 preventable risk factors, including tobacco use, alcohol consumption, high body mass index, physical inactivity, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation and, for the first time in a global assessment, nine cancer-causing infections.
According to the report, tobacco remains the single biggest preventable cause of cancer worldwide, responsible for 15 per cent of all new cases, followed by infections, 10 per cent, and alcohol consumption, three per cent.
Three cancer types, lung, stomach and cervical cancers, accounted for nearly half of all preventable cancer cases globally in both men and women.
Lung cancer was driven largely by smoking and air pollution; stomach cancer was mainly linked to Helicobacter pylori infection, while cervical cancer was overwhelmingly caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).
The report found that the burden of preventable cancer was significantly higher in men than in women, with 45 per cent of new cancer cases in men linked to preventable causes, compared with 30 per cent in women.