[ti:Experts Urge More Efforts to Fight Cancer in Poor Countries] [ar:Barbara Klein] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.00]Health Report. [00:04.80]Health experts are calling [00:06.69]for action to expand cancer care [00:10.42]and control in the developing world. [00:13.40]A paper published [00:15.35]by the medical journal Lancet says [00:17.63]cancer was once thought of mostly [00:20.82]as a problem in the developed world. [00:23.81]But it says cancer is now a leading cause [00:27.84]of death and disability in poor countries. [00:31.62]Experts from Harvard University [00:34.46]and other organizations urge [00:36.94]the international community [00:39.08]to fight cancer aggressively. [00:42.87]They say it should be fought the way [00:46.10]HIV/AIDS has been fought in Africa. [00:50.48]Cancer kills more than seven [00:53.32]and a half million people a year worldwide. [00:57.75]The experts say almost two-thirds [01:01.63]are in low-income and middle-income countries. [01:05.81]They say cancer kills more people [01:09.99]in developing countries than AIDS, [01:14.12]tuberculosis and malaria combined. [01:16.11]But they say the world spends only [01:20.69]five percent of its cancer resources [01:23.82]in those countries. [01:26.41]Felicia Knaul from [01:30.18]the Harvard Medical School [01:31.83]was one of the authors of the paper. [01:34.71]She was in Mexico when she was found [01:39.19]to have breast cancer. [01:40.93] She received treatment there. [01:43.92]She says the experience showed her [01:47.35]the sharp divide between the rich [01:49.94]and the poor in treating breast cancer. [01:53.27]FELICIA KNAUL: "And we are seeing [01:54.27]more and more how this [01:56.12]is attacking young women. [01:57.22]It's the number two cause of death [01:59.11]in Mexico for women thirty to fifty-four. [02:00.85]All over the developing world, [02:02.59]except the poorest-poorest, [02:04.33]it's the number one [02:05.28]cancer-related death [02:07.52]among young women. [02:08.51]And, I think we have to again say [02:10.90]that there is much more we could do [02:12.69]about it than we are doing about it." [02:14.32]Professor Knaul met community [02:16.36]health workers during her work [02:18.30]in developing countries. [02:20.09]She says they were an important part [02:24.02]of efforts to reduce deaths [02:26.86]from cervical cancer. [02:28.90]They were able to persuade women [02:31.78]to get tested and to get vaccinated [02:35.22]against a virus that can cause it. [02:38.30]The experts say cancer care [02:41.64]does not have to be costly. [02:43.63]For example, patients can be treated [02:47.86]with lower-cost drugs that are off-patent. [02:52.59]This means the drugs are no longer [02:55.07]legally protected against being copied. [02:58.77]In another new report, [03:01.40]the American Cancer Society says [03:04.64]cancer has the highest economic cost [03:08.17]of any cause of death. [03:10.51]It caused an estimated nine hundred [03:13.80]billion dollars in economic losses [03:16.96]worldwide in two thousand eight. [03:20.44]That was one and a half percent [03:23.53]of the world economy, [03:26.07]and just losses from early death [03:29.00]and disability. [03:30.80]The study did not estimate [03:33.23]direct medical costs. [03:35.37]But it says the productivity losses [03:39.40]are almost twenty percent higher [03:42.49]than for the second leading cause [03:45.08]of economic loss, heart disease. [03:47.91]And that's the VOA Special English [03:51.65]Health Report, [03:53.14]written by Caty Weaver [03:55.08]with Vidushi Sinha. [03:57.12]I'm Barbara Klein.