• Question: which section of the globe/country has the highest cancer statistics?

    Asked by redpanda to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 12 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Information collected by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for all cancers apart from non-melanoma skin cancer shows that there are almost 12.5 million cases of cancer across the globe. The highest concentration appears to be Asia which accounts for almost 6 million cases, with 2.8 million cases in China alone. There are around 3.2 million cases in Europe with the UK accounting for just over 300,000 cases. With all of these scary statistics, it is easy to see why there is an urgent need to find ways to prevent and treat cancer.

    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      hello redpanda,

      it is interesting to note that different cancers are more common in different countries. That’s probably because people in japan for example have a differen diet. So they get more liver cancer, while there are less cases of colon cancer. It has probably more to do with cultural issues than the position on the globe.

      This kind of statistics are really complicated and your question is not so easy to answer, because the lifestyles and access to healthcare differ between countries. Of course you can have a look at the cancer statistics for each country, but then you have to think about what that really tells you. For example, the cancer rate in a developing country can be lower than in great britain, but that just might reflect that people die off other courses. If life expectancy is low, the cancer rate is low, because it disease which becomes more prevalent with age.

      As a critical thinker you should always ask: How do you know that? What factors did you account for and for which didn’t you?

    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      Hallo redpanda

      Poor people often do worse than rich people. Medicine is expensive, doctors are expensive, but above all, people who are well educated survive better. It’s probably because they know how to look after themselves and know when to find the doctors.

      There are a wonderful group of people devoted to making this less unfair, but it’s very difficult.

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