Cancer, Silent but Intense, Threatens Systems
John R. Seffrin et al
The worthy efforts in recent years to increase attention on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases have helped the world respond more effectively to the threat these diseases pose in low- and middle-income countries. But at the same time in these countries, a silent pandemic of cancer and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has been spreading and now threatens to overwhelm health systems and undermine social structures.
NCDs, which include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive lung disease, claim more than 35 million lives each year, accounting for 60 percent of all deaths worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, mortality rates are higher for noncommunicable diseases than for communicable disease among men and women age 15 to 59 in all regions of the world save Africa. Now, more than ever, the world must take steps to balance the global response to both communicable and noncommunicable diseases, especially in low- and middle-income countries where the burden of NCDs is already great and the level of unnecessary suffering profound.
