LUNG CANCER-PART II

Despite most of developing countries gave attention for communicable diseases; the global burden of non-communicable diseases like cancer continues to increase largely because of the aging and growth of the world population alongside an increasing adoption of cancer-causing behaviors in economically developing countries (Jemal  et al., 2011).

Lung cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer as well as the leading cause of cancer death in males in 2008 globally (GLOBOCAN, 2008). The incidence of lung cancer has started to subside in the developed countries due to the decline in smoking rates but the incidence rises in the developing world because of the continuously high smoking rate in developing countries (Boffetta and Parkin, 1994). The prevalence of smoking is increased in Asian and African countries (Memon et al., 200).

In Sub Saharan Africa, the prevalence of smoking according to estimates by (Jha et al., 2002) was 28% among male and 8% among female population older than 15-years in 1995. This may be an indication for increasing burden of lung cancer in Africa since more than 90% of the cases are due to cigarette smoking. 

Still lung cancer and smoking in most African countries have not been given great attention. This may be due to reliable lung cancer burden estimates are rarely available in most of African countries from where cancer registration is lacking (Ng et al., 2009). However, this does not mean that there are no lung cancer cases in Africa countries.

 

An estimation done by (Jha et al., 2002) suggests that by 2030 all tobacco-related mortality, including lung cancer, will reach around 10 million deaths per year, with the greatest increase coming from the less developed countries.