Global health professionals discuss ways to improve cancer care in low and middle-income countries (Left to right: Dr. Harold Varmus, Sally Cowal, Thomas Bollyky, Dr. J. Stephen Morrison). (Tara Longardner/MNS)
WASHINGTON—The United States leads the world in global health investments, allocating $9.2 billion this year alone. However, experts fear the money is not being distributed wisely.
Each year, 8.2 million people die from cancer worldwide. That’s almost 1,000 every hour.
“There’s a myth that cancer is too difficult, too expensive, to treat in poorer countries. We must overcome that,” said Dr. Harold Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute.
Wednesday was World Cancer Day, a time when government organizations and NGOs alike come together to raise awareness and discuss ways to combat the disease.
In honor of the day, the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a think tank, hosted a round table on ways to treat and prevent cancer in countries that are struggling economically.
This year’s World Cancer Day used the tagline ‘Not beyond us,’ emphasizing that solutions are within reach.
“[This theme] says that there are a number of tools at our fingertips that we can deploy,” Sally Cowal, vice president of global health at the American Cancer Society, said. “They don’t cost very much money, but will make a significant and also immediate difference in the global cancer burden.”
Panelists said that the global health community needs to focus on stronger tobacco control, vaccinations, and earlier detection and treatment, regardless of geographic and economic obstacles.
“The greatest burdens in virtually every low- and middle-income country now are non-communicable diseases, [like cancer], but [US and multilateral institutions’] funding has not shifted along with that change,” Cowal said. “We’re victims of our own success.”
In fact, the U.S. budget to date has never included funds dedicated solely to non-communicable diseases. The 2016 proposed total global health budget is not yet available.
“This [misallocation] in part happens because people haven’t looked at this issue globally,” Thomas Bollyky, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. “We think we understand cancer in low- and middle-income countries because we know people that have cancer here [in the U.S.]”
Issues surrounding cancer and other non-communicable diseases are different in every country. That’s why experts say that U.S. funds would stretch further if more were distributed to the grassroots organizations on the ground around the world.
“We simply cannot sit back and continue to let the global burden grow,” said Cary Adams, CEO of the Union for International Cancer Control, which sponsors World Cancer Day. “We demand that the international community unites to invest in improved cancer control interventions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.”
