WHO: Global Cancer Cases to Surge by Nearly 50% by 2040

A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization's Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Ilbawi, recently told the media that, according to data released by the WHO in December 2020, 19.3 million people worldwide were diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and 10 million died of cancer. Cancer has now become the second leading cause of death globally.

Ilbawi stated that COVID-19 has had a profound impact on cancer control efforts. The pandemic has delayed diagnosis for many cancer patients, interrupted or caused them to abandon treatment, and led countries to cut back on research and clinical trials. Poor countries in particular have been severely affected in terms of cancer patients' survival and quality of life by the lack of high-quality, affordable diagnostic and treatment services. This is a secondary disaster brought about by COVID-19.

The rapid growth in cancer patients is, on the one hand, related to the increase in life expectancy per person. Cancer is an age-related disease: the older one gets, the higher the likelihood of developing cancer. Therefore, as global life expectancy rises generally, cancer incidence will rise along with it.

On the other hand, cancer is also closely related to the environment and human lifestyle. In recent years, the human living environment has been greatly damaged, and external carcinogenic factors have increased. For instance, after the ozone layer was damaged, humans are exposed to much more ultraviolet radiation than before, which has led to an explosive rise in the prevalence of malignant melanoma in recent years; air pollution has also caused the prevalence of lung cancer to rise.

At the same time, human lifestyles have become increasingly unhealthy. About one-third of cancer deaths are caused by smoking, alcohol consumption, a high body mass index, insufficient intake of fruits and vegetables, and lack of physical exercise. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has called on humanity to change the current diet structure of excessive meat consumption in order to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases related to obesity (such as cancer and diabetes).

These problems have become universal problems for humanity, so some scientists believe that human physical fitness peaked at the end of the last century, and that the overall physical condition of humans is now on the decline. Although human life expectancy is rising, the overall quality of life is declining; our physical fitness is not as good as that of the baby-boom generation after World War II, and the extra years of life we gain are mostly spent in hospitals.

The Lunar New Year is almost here, and I see everyone posting pictures of cured fish and cured meat; some provinces even promote these very unhealthy traditional foods as local specialties to the outside. I want to give a special reminder to all my friends: because Chinese residents love to eat preserved foods containing the highly carcinogenic substance nitrite (such as cured fish, cured meat, sausages, pickled vegetables, and salted vegetables), China has the highest prevalence of digestive tract cancers in the world. I hope everyone can correct their unhealthy dietary habits and avoid developing cancer.

The Spring Festival is a joyful time of reunion, but some of its outdated traditions are very harmful to health. Relatives and friends smoking and drinking together, feasting on rich meat dishes, and families sharing delicacies such as cured fish, cured meat, and sausages will lead to a rise in the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Every Spring Festival, a large number of stroke patients arrive at hospitals for emergency treatment; it is truly a case of extreme joy begetting sorrow.

I hope that the new generation of citizens, who have received more education than their predecessors, can transform outdated customs and create novel and healthy ways of celebrating the festival, contributing to lowering China's cancer incidence. This can both reduce the burden on society and increase one's own well-being—so why not do it?