CANCER CONTROL PLANNING
CANCER CONTROL 2015 31
T
he biggest global health crisis in low- and middleincome
countries is not the exotic parasites, bacterial
blights or obscure tropical viruses that have long
occupied international health initiatives and media attention.
It is cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other
noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which killed more than
eight million people before their sixtieth birthdays in low- and
middle-income countries in 2013 alone (1). The most
prevalent cancers - lung, liver, cervical, and breast cancer -
constitute a significant proportion of this crisis and pose a
growing burden (Fig. 1). Unless urgent action is taken, the
cancer crisis emerging in developing countries will worsen
and become harder to address with each passing year.
The urgency of this situation led the Council on Foreign
Relations (CFR) to convene an Independent Task Force on
Noncommunicable Diseases - its first ever devoted to a
CANCER PREVENTION AND
TREATMENT IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES: RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR ACTION1
THOMAS J BOLLYKY, SENIOR FELLOW FOR GLOBAL HEALTH, ECONOMICS, AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE
COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, USA AND CAROLINE ANDRIDGE, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE FOR GLOBAL
HEALTH, ECONOMICS, AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, USA
Once thought to be challenges for affluent countries alone, cancer, cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases are now the leading cause of death and disability
in developing countries. The economic and human costs are high and rising in low- and middleincome
countries, threatening their continued development prosperity. Lung, liver, cervical and
breast cancers constitute a large proportion of this growing burden and can be addressed with
life-saving and low-cost interventions.
1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
Number of deaths
300k
250k
200k
150k
Low income (36 countries)
1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
Number of deaths
800k
700k
600k
500k
Lower-middle income (47 countries)
1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
Number of deaths1.1m
10m
950k
900k
850k 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
Number of deaths 600k
550k
500k
450k
Upper-middle income (52 countries) High income (52 countries)
3
Figure 1: Premature (under age 60) deaths caused by cancers
Underlying data source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Global Burden of Disease Study 2013
1. This article is adapted from the Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Task Force Report No. 72, "The Emerging Global Health Crisis:
Noncommunicable Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," with permission from report author and project director Thomas Bollyky.