82,802 Nigerians to die of Cancer in 2020—WHO.
At the opening session of the annual general meeting/scientific conference of Nigeria Cancer Society in Abuja yesterday, A representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Mary Stephen,
disclosed that If the Federal Government fail to halt the current trend of cancer, 82,802 people will die as a result of the disease, while 172,001 new cases will come up in country in the year 2020, this is even as 105,482 new cases and 75,521 deaths as a result of cancer were recorded in Nigeria in 2015.
While lamenting that the cancer burden in Nigeria was high, the WHO Representative reiterated that ‘’current estimates from World Health Organization (WHO), Global database indicate that there were 105,482 new cases of cancer and 75,521 deaths in Nigeria in 2015, the most frequent being the cancer of the breast, cervix, liver, prostrate and colorectal. ‘’The projection is that this number will increase to 122,001 new cases and 82,802 deaths by 2020 if the current trend is maintained.
According to her, one third of all cancer cases are preventable and that prevention offers the most cost—effective long term strategy for the control of cancer.
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