Cancer

We all know what cancer is, at least the basic things about this horrible disease. Even the children know a few things about it because, whether we want it or not, cancer has become a part of every day life with more and more people around us getting sick. It is only normal that these cases will affect all the people around a cancer patient and they will get more information about the disease. But we usually do not realize the extent in which it has spread all over the world and affected the population of all countries. Only when you have the chance to read some cancer stats do you realize the proportions of this disease.



Of course, cancer statistics are very detailed and complex, giving tons of data for every country, geographic area, the type of cancer, incidence, mortality, differentiation on age, sex, race, location, diet, etc. But first of all I want to talk about what hurts most - the death rates of cancer because you can't help being shaken by so many people who die from cancer every year. According to cancer stats there are 7.4 million of people who die every year because of a certain type of cancer. It is 13% of all deaths registered all over the world. I used to compare this number of people who die with the total erasing of a small country from the face of the Earth - that is the damage being made every year by cancer and incidence numbers are increasing. They even estimate that twenty years from now one in three people will be diagnosed with some type of cancer during their lifetime.



The leading types of cancer in death rates are: lung cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer. Also the highest death rates caused by cancer are recorded in the poor and undeveloped countries - 72% of all the cancer deaths in one year are recorded in these countries. The funny thing is that over 30% of all these deaths could have been avoided. Cancer treatments and drugs are a lot more powerful and efficient these days and the mortality rate is decreasing, but there seems to be an acute need of awareness campaigns to tell the people what are the basic things they can do for preventing cancer (for example quit smoking and alcohol abuse - since they were found to be risk factors in almost all cancer types, causing over 30% of the cancers) and also an acute need of funds to provide the poor countries with competitive equipment of screening used for detecting early cancer. By 2030 specialists estimate an increased number of cancer cases every year - about 12 million, which is huge.



Cancer incidence rates differ a lot depending on the organ being affected and also on the sex. So in men - prostate cancer has the biggest incidence, while women have the same problem with breast cancer. The latest cancer stats of the American Cancer Society have lead to an estimation that there will be almost 1.5 million new cases of cancer recorded every year and 570,000 people will die of cancer every year in the United States only.

So, in conclusion, let's do everything in our power to reduce the risk of getting any type of cancer and try to lead a good healthy life.