4 million new cancer cases a year, in Western Pacific Region
Monday, February 6, 2012 - 15:30
On the eve of World Cancer Day the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments to strengthen national control programmes, including by raising awareness, amid an alarming rise of cancer cases. WHO's Western Pacific Region bears a significant share of the global cancer burden, accounting for 32% of all cancers in 2008. There were slightly more than 4 million new cases of cancer in the region in 2008 – 2.31 million in men and 1.75 million in women. Nearly 2.6 million people in the region died from cancer in that year. - WHO.