While the world is struggling with Covid-19 pandemic, more than ten million people die from various form of cancer every year. According to statistics, every six death in the world is due to cancer, making it the second leading cause of death – second only to cardiovascular diseases. Despite that half of dying people are those over 70 years and older, even chilren below 14 are dying due to cancer.
There is an apparent progress in death rates. While 215 people died per 100.000 people in 1991, the number has fallen to 152 in 2016. But the number of mortalities are still high. Health analysts say that states should encourage people to make check-ups for early diagnosis. Doctors say those in Phase 1 have more chance to survive from cancer. “If a patient is at Phase 4, he/she will most likely die as tumors have already spread all over the body”, says Dr. Suresh Sharma, an oncologist. Another oncologist Ahmet Yalçınkaya adds that the world must collaborate and cooperate together against cancer as they did against Covid-19. He says that cancer kills more people than Covid-19 pandemic, and the virus is likely to disappear soon while cancer won’t.
