Secondo il rapporto “State of Oncology 2013″, presentato allo European Cancer Congress di Amsterdam dall’International Prevention Research Institute di Lione, si calcola che nel 2030 nel mondo si supereranno i 26 milioni di malati all’anno, con circa 17 milioni di morti.
All’European Cancer Congress é stato richiesto di istituire un "Fondo globale" specifico come quello creato per l’Hiv.
Il rapporto sopra citato prende in esame i diversi fattori coinvolti nella comparsa dei tumori e mette in evidenza il dato sconfortante diagnostico : l’80% dei tumori, nei Paesi in via di sviluppo,viene scoperto in stadi avanzati e incurabili.
Altro dato significativo è che la sopravvivenza varia a seconda del reddito: ad esempio nelle zone ricche guarisce il 75% dei tumori al seno, in quelle povere la percentuale scende al 43%.
L’urgenza di un fondo internazionale, quindi, nasce dalla consapevolezza che in una situazione tragica come quella attuale, nessuna istituzione potrebbe condurre questa guerra da sola, mentre aiuterebbe parecchio un’alleanza tra soggetti pubblici e privati. Solo a quel punto la mappa in questione potrebbe servire a far luce sulle cause genetiche, ambientali e sociali all’origine della malattia.
Il rapporto State of Oncology 2013 è il risultato di uno studio combinato dell'aumento della popolazione con le variazioni degli stili di vita e nella longevità in 50 Stati del mondo. E sono proprio i paesi in via di sviluppo come Cina, India e Nigeria a presentare i quadri più preoccupanti.
State of Oncology 2013: la sopravvivenza ai tumori varia in base al reddito
Dal rapporto State of Oncology 2013 pubblicato dall'International Prevention Research Institute emerge una situazione d'emergenza per i paesi in via di sviluppo. In Africa ci sono solo il 20% dei servizi di radioterapia richiesti, e in Asia ce ne sono 1200 contro i 4mila necessari. Per non parlare della diagnosi: l'80% dei tumori viene scoperto troppo tardi nei paesi in via di sviluppo, quando ormai le cure sono inutili.
Un altro dato del rapporto è il legame tra il reddito e la possibilità di sopravvivenza ai tumori: nei paesi sviluppati il 75% dei tumori al seno viene debellato, mentre nei paesi poveri la percentuale cala al 43%.
Per una giusta diagnosi e una cura adeguata ed efficace servono ricerca, fondi, cultura; si rende necessario, perciò, un fondo internazionale. E' l'opinione di Peter Boyle, curatore del rapporto State of Oncology 2013 realizzato dall'International Prevention Research Institute di Lione: ''Servirebbero 217 miliardi di dollari l'anno per portare diagnosi e trattamenti nei paesi poveri - ha ricordato - Nessuna istituzione da sola può farcela, serve un'alleanza internazionale tra soggetti pubblici e privati".
VIRUS E TUMORI : Un gruppo di ricerca coordinato da Erik Larsson, dell'università svedese di Gothenburg, ha messo a punto la più completa mappa mai realizzata dei virus collegati ai tumori. I risultati sono stati pubblicati sulla rivista Nature Communications.
Secondo gli autori, la banca dati potrà essere utilizzata come punto di riferimento per futuri studi sull'interconnessione fra virus e cancro.
I virus sono i fattori scatenanti nel 10-15% per cento dei casi di tumore.
ENGLISH VERSION:
The State Of Oncology 2013
New report draws attention to urgent need to tackle disparities in cancer care worldwide
A proposal for a new financing model to tackle the major disparities that exist in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of cancer in countries worldwide has been presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECCO 2013). While much progress has been made against cancer over the last century, a new report brings together evidence that not every patient benefits from it, nor even has the opportunity to benefit. The economics of cancer are daunting and the current model of financing is broken, said Professor Peter Boyle, President of the International Prevention Research Institute (Lyon, France) and Director of the Institute of Global Public Health of the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, United Kingdom and Lyon, France) in a presentation entitled ‘The State of Oncology’.
The presentation was about a report of the same name based on the contributions of the four overall leaders of the project, seven regional leaders and over 100 eminent medical scientists who described the state of oncology in over 50 countries.
Cancer is only part of the growing burden of chronic disease worldwide, and is set to continue to increase in the future, with India, China and Nigeria contributing the most. The United Nations estimates that the current global population of 7.2 billion will reach 9.6 billion by 2050 and that by 2028 India and China will each have a population of 1.45 billion people. Best estimates are that by 2050, the population of Nigeria will have overtaken that of the United States.
“With this population growth there will be a dramatic rise in the cancer burden in India, China and Nigeria, and these demographic increases, coupled with increases in cancer risk through the adoption of western lifestyle habits by their populations, will drive the numbers of cases of cancer diagnosed in these countries upwards. Increases in these countries, plus the surge in cases expected in populous countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam, where rapid change is also taking place, will be the driving force behind the expected rise in the global burden of cancer, as well as in other chronic diseases,” said Prof Boyle.
“Many parts of the world are already unable to cope with the current situation and are totally unprepared for the future growth of the cancer problem. In lower-resource countries, for many patients the stigma associated with cancer leads them to seek alternative care and if they do present to medical services they do so frequently when the disease is advanced and only palliation is possible,” Prof Boyle continued.
“The rights of cancer patients can be achieved by implementing and adhering to what we call the Four Pillars of Oncology: prevent all cancers that can be prevented; treat all cancers that can be treated; cure all cancers that can be cured; and provide palliation whenever palliation is required. While progress in oncology has been remarkable in recent decades, and the future looks very encouraging, not every cancer patient is able to benefit from the advances that have been made in treating the disease. The contrast in diagnosis, treatment and its outcome between the high-resource and low-resource countries is dramatic.
“It is bad to have cancer, and worse to have cancer if you are poor. The gap between rich and poor, highly educated and least educated and the north-south divide is substantial and continuing to grow. Radical solutions are urgently needed: the status quo is not an appropriate response to the current situation. It should be recognized that no single source of philanthropy has the means to solve this problem, and that new models are needed to cope with and improve this situation.
“It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that there is a need for a major public-private partnership, involving a number of sources from different areas, to make the necessary progress with the briefest delay. Such a partnership needs the commitment of the pharmaceutical industry and the wide span of industries involved in diagnostic and treatment technology. It also needs the commitment of governments and non-governmental organizations to be effective, and its effectiveness will be measured against the success in delivering the most appropriate treatment and care to every cancer patient.
“Given the scale of the need to deal equitably with cancer worldwide, working to improve health must cease to be viewed as a competition. Public and private organizations have an underlying suspicion of each other that must be overcome in the interests of improving global cancer care and outcomes. The situation described in the State of Oncology Report 2013 is dramatic and urgent, and all parties should put any deep-rooted suspicion behind them and develop an effective collaboration to improve this key aspect of public health throughout the world,” he concluded.
—
On the Net:
• ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation |
