Managing the ever-increasing demand for cancer services in the developing world

Cancer is not just a major health issue for people but also a growing development challenge with severe consequences on national well-being and government health budgets. According to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, the total annual economic cost of cancer in 2010 was estimated at US $1.16 trillion. This number is expected to have continued to increase as more people develop cancer each year — globally, in 2018, the number of cancer cases exceeded 18 million, with 9.6 million deaths. By 2030, these annual figures are expected to rise to 24 million cases, with 13 million deaths. Many low and middle income countries are unable to provide sufficient cancer diagnosis and treatment services and must send patients abroad for care, which is expensive and can be a burden on patients and their families. Establishing national cancer care services, including radiotherapy facilities and nuclear medicine units, is a complex undertaking that requires careful planning to set up the highly specialized infrastructure, equipment and training, as well as to mobilize funds. The IAEA has a long history of supporting countries in using nuclear technology for health. In the area of cancer, it has been transferring technology and building human and institutional capacities for cancer diagnosis and treatment using radiation technology. The IAEA, through its technical cooperation programme, has trained over 2000 health professionals and provided more than €172 million since 2011 to assist countries in developing national cancer care services. In 2019 alone, it supported more than 125 cancer-related projects worldwide.