Global Health

Here's how cancer can be tackled through universal health coverage

Cancer patients sit in a chemotherapy ward while receiving treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, April 24, 2012. Most of Africa's around 2,000 languages have no word for cancer. The common perception in both developing and developed countries is that it's a disease of the wealthy world, where high-fat, processed-food diets, alcohol, smoking and sedentary lifestyles fuel tumour growth. Yet there are an estimated one million new cancer cases sub-Saharan Africa will see this year - a number predicted to double to 2 million a year in the next decade. Picture taken April 24, 2012. To match Insight CANCER-AFRICA/GHANA REUTERS/Olivier Asselin (GHANA - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY) - GM1E8511BT401

Nearly one in five people will face a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime. Image: REUTERS/Olivier Asselin

Sally G. Cowal
Senior Vice President of Global Cancer Control, American Cancer Society
Christian Sellars
Executive Director of Global Policy, MSD
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A pharmaceutical employee working on a hepatitis B vaccine at a laboratory in Israel on July 14, 2013.
Vaccines are one of the best options for widely preventing hepatitis B–related liver cancer. Image: REUTERS/Baz Ratner
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Women attending a meeting during a cancer prevention campaign in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Image: REUTERS/Luc Gnago
cancer treatment vaccine HPV coronavirus covid19 pandemic disease research science development patients genetics universal health coverage
Rukia Kondogoza awaiting treatment for cervical cancer in Tanzania's only cancer therapy center in Dar es Salaam. Image: REUTERS/Katrina Manson
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