LAHORE: The whole world, including Pakistan, observed the World Cancer Day on Friday to raise awareness regarding this ailment that accounted for nearly 10 million deaths or nearly one in six deaths in 2020, but the cardiovascular diseases happen to be the leading cause of all global demises, research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” showed.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Economic Forum (WEF), an estimated 17.9 million people perished from the cardiovascular diseases in 2019, representing 32 percent of all the global deaths. Of these deaths, 85 percent were due to heart attack and stroke.
It can thus be safely assumed that although the average global life expectancy has risen by more than six years from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.4 in 2019, there is still a yawning gap between overall life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, leaving mankind quite vulnerable to the threats of cancer and fatal heart disorders.
However, while the world is still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, deaths from the AIDS/HIV and Tuberculosis are declining -- quite a heartening news.
The leading cause of death in the world in 2019 was Ischaemic heart disease, also known as coronary heart disease. It was responsible for 16 percent of total deaths and since 2000 has triggered the largest increase in mortalities, killing 8.9 million people in 2019.
The Union for International Cancer Control has reported that nearly 70 percent of deaths due to cancer occur in low and middle-income countries, such as Pakistan.
The most common cancers in 2020 were breast cancer (2.26 million cases), colon and rectum cancer (1.93 million cases), prostate cancer (1.41 million cases), skin cancer (non-melanoma) (1.20 million cases), and stomach cancer (1.09 million cases).
The highest number of deaths caused by cancer in 2020 was due to lung cancer (1.80 million deaths), colon and rectum cancer (916,000 deaths), liver cancer (830,000 deaths), stomach cancer (769,000 deaths), and breast cancer (685,000 deaths).
Each year, approximately 400,000 children develop cancer. Around one-third of deaths from cancer are due to tobacco use, high body mass index, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake, and lack of physical activity.
Cancer-causing infections, such as Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis, are responsible for approximately 30 percent of cancer cases in low and lower-middle-income countries. The looming and alarming threats of diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are posing serious risks to the people all over the world. While diabetes has increased by 80 percent between 2000 and 2019, the ailments caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia have almost doubled, the WHO said.
In 2019, diabetes was the ninth leading cause of death with an estimated 1.5 million deaths. In 2014, about 422 million people worldwide had diabetes, the majority living in low and middle-income countries. The number must have crossed 600 million by now.
Similarly, as per the WHO’s estimation, there were over 55 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2020. This number will almost double after every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050 and much of the increase will be in the developing countries, the WHO said. The AIDS/HIV has disappeared from the top 10 causes of death, globally – dropping from eighth place in 2000 to 19th in 2020.
Another notable difference in the AIDS/HIV over the period has been the gender split of those it has killed. Since 2000, there has been a 55 percent decline in deaths among women. In 2000, there were 38,000 fewer women who died from the AIDS/HIV than men. By 2019, that difference had grown to 90,000.
According to the United Nations, approximately 37.9 million people were infected with HIV/AIDS globally as of 2018 and about 770,000 deaths were recorded that year. On October 14, 2021, the WHO said the number of deaths due to the HIV/AIDS had nosedived to 214,000 in 2020.
Similarly, there has also been a decline in the Tuberculosis (TB) cases, which dropped from the seventh place in 2000 to 13th in 2019. According to the WHO, a total of 1.5 million people died of the TB in 2020.
Worldwide, TB is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after the Covid-19 leaving behind HIV/AIDS. In 2020, an estimated 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis worldwide. Of these, 5.6 million were men, 3.3 million were women and 1.1 million were children.
Globally, deaths from TB have reduced by 30 percent, but it is still a challenge in the developing countries of the world, and is among the top 10 causes of death in Africa and South-East Asia.
