Cancer

Cancer

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  • Cancer is a poverty issue. Poor people are more likely to die from cancer, and a cancer diagnosis can push households into poverty. Cancer prevention interventions, such as tobacco taxes and HPV vaccinations, are pro-poor, providing relatively larger benefits to low-income households. 

  • Cancer is a major cause of premature death in LMICs, and its significance will undoubtedly grow as countries experience epidemiological and demographic transitions. 

  • Excise taxes on tobacco ($1-$150/DALY averted) and hepatitis B vaccination (<$100/DALY averted) are the most cost effective interventions against cancer. 

  • The DCP3 essential package of cost-effective and feasible interventions would, if fully implemented, cost an additional $20 billion per year, or 3 percent  of total public spending on health in LMICs; 2.6 percent in upper-middle-income countries (UMICs); and 5 percent in lower-middle-income countries; but 13 percent in low-income countries (LICs).
     
  • Global initiatives for cancer control in LMICs are needed to lower the costs of key inputs for the essential package, including large-scale commodity purchases; to expand technical assistance; and to promote cancer research.
Dr. Amartya Sen

 

“The lesson that emerges from the well-aimed empirical analyses presented in this volume is not only that a major difference can be made in the incidence, management, and elimination of cancer, even in the poorer countries of the world, but that this can be done in cost-effective and affordable ways. Understanding and determination are the deficiencies most in need of change.”

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Lancet Article on Cancer

Published online 11 November, 2015

Introduction: 

Investments in cancer control—prevention, detection, diagnosis, surgery, other treatment, and palliative care—are increasingly needed in low-income and particularly in middle-income countries...

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Cancer Incidence Worldwide

 

 WHO (World Health Organization). 2012. Global Health Estimates 2012. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/en/.

News and Events

Conference of the Economics of Non-Communicable Diseases
On February 16-17, 2018, several DCP3 contributors convened at the American University of Beirut to participate in “The Economics of Non-Communicable Diseases in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries” conference. This two-day event showcased findings from the forthcoming Lancet Series on Non-...
DCP3 Contributors Participate in Global Cancer Video
DCP3 Volume 3 lead editor Hellen Gelband and chapter author Dr. Sumit Gupta - along with This Week in Global Health's Jessica Taaffe - participated in the latest episode of TWiGH to discuss cancer. The panel focused on the importance of timely and accurate diagnosis, improved and effective...
DCP3 Series Editor Gives Lecture on Global Oncology Funding
DCP3 series editor, Dr. Rachel Nugent, gave a lecture on Monday, July 24 2017 as part of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington Cancer Consortium Global Oncology Lecture Series. Dr. Nugent's lecture was titled "Donor Priority for Global Cancer Control: A Funding...

Dissemination Resources

PRESS RELEASE: DCP3 Releases Latest Volume: Cancer
QR Code Postcards for Distribution - Cancer
Costs, Affordability, and Feasibility of an Essential Package of Cancer Control Interventions in...
Lancet |

Volume Editors

Hellen Gelband

Hellen Gelband
Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy

Prabhat Jha

Prabhat Jha
Centre for Global Health Research, Toronto

Susan Horton

Susan Horton
University of Waterloo, School of Public Health and Health Systems

Cindy Gauvreau

Volume Coordinator
Cindy Gauvreau
Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael's Hospital

To Obtain Copies of the Cancer volume:

Download the entire volume from The World Bank 

Purchase copies of the volume from Amazon, in paperback or hardcover.

Volume citation: Gelband, H., P. Jha, R. Sankaranarayanan, and S. Horton, eds. 2015. Disease Control Priorities, third edition. Volume 3, Cancer. Washington, DC: World Bank.