Cancer is no longer a disease discussed only in hospitals and medical journals. From families losing loved ones to the growing number of younger people being diagnosed, cancer has become one of the world’s most pressing health challenges.
Yet, while the global cancer burden is rising, the story is not entirely one of despair. Medical science has made significant progress in prevention, early detection, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and personalised treatments. The bigger question is whether those advances can reach the millions of people who need them.
Cancer itself is not new. Evidence of the disease has been found in ancient human remains, showing that it has existed throughout human history. What has changed is the scale of the modern burden, driven by population growth and ageing, as well as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, obesity, physical inactivity, infections, pollution and other environmental and genetic factors.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says cancer remains one of the world’s leading causes of death, with nearly 10 million people dying from the disease in 2024.
The agency estimates that about 20.6 million new cancer cases occur globally each year, underscoring the enormous challenge facing health systems.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialised cancer agency of WHO, estimated that 19.98 million people developed cancer and 9.7 million died from the disease in 2022.
IARC projects that the number of new cancer cases could reach about 35 million annually by 2050, representing a 77 per cent increase from 2022.
The projected increase, however, does not mean cancer is suddenly becoming more aggressive in every part of the world. Population growth and ageing are major contributors because cancer becomes more common as people grow older.
Long-term Global Burden of Disease estimates illustrate the scale of the increase. The latest GBD analysis puts global cancer deaths at about 10.4 million in 2023, compared with more than seven million around 2000.
Because WHO, IARC and the GBD programme use different methodologies and reference years, their figures should not be treated as a single continuous death registry. But taken together, they show a substantial increase in the annual number of people dying from cancer over recent decades.
There is therefore no scientifically recognised year when cancer suddenly “became worse”. Rather, the disease burden has increased progressively, while the types of cancer affecting populations and the ages at which some cancers occur have also changed.
There is no single cause of cancer.
Cancer develops when genetic changes cause cells to grow and divide uncontrollably. These changes may result from inherited mutations, ageing, infections, exposure to carcinogens and a combination of environmental and lifestyle factors.
Age remains one of the strongest risk factors. As life expectancy increases and populations grow older, more people reach the age at which cancer becomes more common.
But aging alone does not explain the modern cancer crisis.
WHO identifies tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, excess body weight and air pollution among important cancer risk factors.
A major WHO-IARC analysis published in 2026 estimated that up to four in 10 cancer cases worldwide could potentially be prevented by addressing known preventable causes.
Researchers examined 30 preventable causes, including tobacco, alcohol, high body mass index, physical inactivity, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation and cancer-causing infections.
The finding offers an important message: a significant proportion of the global cancer burden is not inevitable.
One of the most frequently asked questions is whether changing food habits are contributing to the increase in cancer.
Over the past several decades, urbanisation, industrial food production and changing lifestyles have transformed what many people eat.
Traditional diets in many communities were heavily based on vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds and other minimally processed foods.
Today, highly processed foods, sugary drinks, processed meats, refined carbohydrates and energy-dense meals are much more widely available.
Scientists have investigated links between these dietary changes, obesity, inflammation and metabolic disorders and cancer.
However, experts caution against the simplistic conclusion that “modern food causes cancer.”
The evidence is stronger for specific dietary exposures than for the entire category of processed or ultra-processed foods.
IARC classifies processed meat as carcinogenic to humans, primarily because of evidence linking it to colorectal cancer, while red meat is classified as probably carcinogenic.
WHO also identifies unhealthy diets, overweight and obesity as cancer risk factors.
Excess body weight has been associated with several cancers, including colorectal, breast, endometrial, kidney and oesophageal cancers.
The message is therefore not that every processed food causes cancer. Rather, diets dominated by unhealthy foods, particularly when combined with physical inactivity and excess weight, can increase the risk of certain cancers.
The modern lifestyle has also reduced physical activity for millions of people.
Cars, desk jobs, prolonged screen time and reduced daily movement have replaced many forms of physical activity that were once part of everyday life.
At the same time, energy-dense foods have become increasingly accessible.
WHO and IARC identify physical inactivity and high body mass index among important preventable cancer risks.
This has become particularly significant as obesity rates rise in many countries.
Researchers are also investigating the changing age profile of some cancers.
In the United States, for example, colorectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death among adults below 50, even though overall cancer mortality among younger Americans has fallen substantially since 1990.
Researchers are examining possible links with obesity, diet, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyles and other environmental, genetic and metabolic factors.
But there is still no evidence that food alone explains the trend.
Long before the debate about ultra-processed foods, tobacco had already established itself as one of the world’s most important preventable causes of cancer.
WHO describes tobacco as the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer mortality.
Tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals, including many known carcinogens.
Lung cancer remains the world’s leading cause of cancer death. IARC estimated that lung cancer caused approximately 1.8 million deaths globally in 2022.
The experience of countries that have successfully reduced smoking also demonstrates that cancer prevention can work.
As smoking prevalence has declined in some countries, lung cancer and overall cancer mortality have also fallen.
Alcohol is another major preventable risk factor.
WHO links alcohol consumption to cancers of the breast, liver, mouth, throat, oesophagus and colorectum.
Air pollution is another growing concern, particularly for lung cancer.
The cancer debate therefore extends beyond individual choices.
Industrial emissions, occupational exposure, environmental contaminants and poor urban air quality can all contribute to cancer risk.
Some cancers are closely linked to infections.
Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is the principal cause of cervical cancer.
Hepatitis B and C viruses are major causes of liver cancer, while Helicobacter pylori infection is strongly associated with stomach cancer.
This area provides one of the clearest examples of how prevention can save lives.
Vaccination against HPV and hepatitis B can prevent infections associated with cancer, while screening can detect precancerous changes before they become invasive cancer.
The WHO’s fight against cancer has increasingly moved beyond treating patients after diagnosis towards preventing cancer before it develops.
WHO’s cervical cancer elimination initiative is built around three major pillars: HPV vaccination, screening and treatment.
WHO and its partners reported that by the end of 2025, 86 million girls had received HPV vaccination with their support.
The organisation has also promoted HPV DNA testing as an effective approach to cervical cancer screening and emphasised the importance of treating precancerous lesions.
The global strategy reflects a simple reality: when a cancer is strongly associated with a preventable infection, vaccination and screening can dramatically reduce future deaths.
WHO has also repeatedly called on governments to strengthen tobacco control, reduce exposure to carcinogens, promote healthier lifestyles, improve early diagnosis and make cancer treatment more accessible.
The largest number of cancer deaths occurs in populous countries.
Latest GBD estimates for 2023 put China at approximately 2.55 million cancer deaths, followed by India with about 1.05 million and the United States with approximately 694,000.
Japan recorded about 513,000 deaths, Russia approximately 303,000 and Brazil about 286,000.
Nigeria was estimated to have recorded roughly 115,000 cancer deaths in 2023 under the same dataset.
But raw numbers can be misleading.
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A country with a very large population can record more cancer deaths without necessarily having the highest individual risk.
Age-standardised mortality rates provide a better comparison between countries with different population sizes and age structures.
GBD data show particularly high age-standardised cancer mortality rates in some smaller countries and territories, including Greenland, Nauru and Monaco, as well as countries such as Mongolia and Uruguay.
The distinction is important: China may have the largest absolute number of cancer deaths, but that does not mean it has the world’s highest cancer mortality risk per person.
More than half of global cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
For many patients in these countries, the problem is not necessarily that their cancers are biologically more aggressive.
It is that they may have limited access to screening, diagnostic services, pathology, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted medicines and palliative care.
Patients may also arrive at hospitals when the disease is already advanced.
This creates one of the greatest inequalities in modern healthcare: a cancer that can potentially be detected early and treated successfully in one country may become fatal in another because the necessary equipment, specialists or medicines are unavailable or unaffordable.
Cancer has also claimed the lives of prominent political leaders.
Former Namibian President Hage Geingob died in February 2024 after being diagnosed with cancer. He had previously disclosed that he had survived prostate cancer.
Former Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi died in February 2024 at the age of 98 after receiving treatment for lung cancer.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori died in September 2024 after a long battle with cancer.
Former Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica died in May 2025 at the age of 89 after battling an oesophageal tumour.
Their deaths demonstrate that wealth, power and access to medical care do not make anyone completely immune to cancer.
Several prominent leaders and former leaders have also publicly faced the disease.
Britain’s King Charles III announced in February 2024 that he was undergoing treatment for cancer. He has subsequently spoken about progress in his treatment.
Former US President Joe Biden was diagnosed in May 2025 with aggressive prostate cancer that had already spread to his bones. His family has subsequently provided updates on his condition.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed in 2026 that he had undergone treatment for early-stage prostate cancer after a malignant tumour was detected during medical examination.
Such cases also demonstrate the importance of early detection. When cancer is found before it spreads extensively, treatment options and outcomes can be significantly better for many types of cancer.
Yes there is hope and this is where the global cancer story changes from one of fear to one of possibility.
Despite the rising number of cancer cases and deaths, the age-standardised cancer death rate has fallen substantially in many parts of the world since 1990.
That progress has been driven by a combination of prevention, reduced tobacco use, improved screening, earlier diagnosis, better surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and other advances in cancer treatment.
Medical research is also moving towards increasingly personalised cancer care.
Scientists are developing treatments designed around the genetic and biological characteristics of individual tumours rather than relying solely on a one-size-fits-all approach.
Recent research into personalised cancer vaccines, including mRNA-based approaches, has produced encouraging results in some cancers. Such treatments remain under investigation and are not yet a universal solution, but they demonstrate how rapidly cancer medicine is evolving.
Immunotherapy has similarly transformed treatment for some patients by helping the body’s immune system recognise and attack cancer cells.
The fight against cancer increasingly rests on two fronts.
The first is prevention.
That means reducing tobacco and harmful alcohol consumption, improving diets, increasing physical activity, tackling obesity, reducing air pollution, protecting workers from carcinogens, expanding vaccination and controlling cancer-causing infections.
The second is early detection and treatment.
This requires screening people at appropriate risk, diagnosing cancer earlier, improving access to pathology and imaging, expanding surgery and radiotherapy capacity, making effective medicines affordable and providing quality palliative care.
For Nigeria and other African countries, the challenge is particularly urgent.
Cancer control cannot be restricted to specialist hospitals in major cities. Prevention campaigns must reach communities, while diagnostic services, cancer registries, pathology laboratories, radiotherapy machines, oncology medicines and trained healthcare professionals need to become more widely available.
Cancer’s rise cannot simply be blamed on fast food or changing diets.
It is the product of several interacting factors population growth, ageing, tobacco, alcohol, dietary patterns, obesity, physical inactivity, infections, pollution, occupational exposures, genetics and unequal access to healthcare.
But the fact that many of these factors are preventable offers hope.
WHO’s finding that up to four in 10 cancer cases could potentially be prevented is perhaps more important than the grim annual death toll.
It means millions of future cases could potentially be avoided through better policies and healthier environments.
For those already diagnosed, hope lies in early detection, better treatment, improved access to care and rapid advances in cancer research.
The world is not powerless against cancer.
The challenge is to ensure that scientific breakthroughs do not remain available only to wealthy patients and countries, but reach vulnerable populations everywhere.
Cancer may remain one of humanity’s greatest health challenges in the coming decades. But it does not have to become an unavoidable death sentence.
The real question is no longer whether there is hope for cancer patients. There is. The question is whether governments, health systems and societies can make that hope accessible to everyone.
