Table 1.
The most common cancers in Africa (estimated numbers of incident cases in males and females in 2008) (2)
| Cancer site | Estimated number of new cases |
Identified risk factors with high public health relevance to Africa |
High priority actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast | 92 600 | Hormonal and reproductive factors, obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol | Early detection and treatment; breast cancer awareness; physical activity; avoidance of obesity |
| Cervix | 80 400 | High-risk mucosal HPV, tobacco | HPV vaccination; screening and treatment |
| Liver | 51 500 | HBV, HCV, aflatoxins | HBV vaccination; clean needles; screening of blood for transfusion; avoidance of unnecessary injections; aflatoxin control |
| Prostate | 39 500 | ||
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma including Burkitt lymphoma | 37 200 | EBV, malaria, HIV (indirect), HCV | Anti-retrovirals; chemotherapy protocols adapted to low-resource settings |
| Colon and rectum | 34 900 | Obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol, tobacco | Tobacco control; physical activity |
| Kaposi sarcoma | 34 500* | HIV (indirect), KSHV | Anti-retrovirals |
| Oesophagus | 27 800 | Tobacco, alcohol | Tobacco control; alcohol control |
| Lung | 26 700 | Tobacco | Tobacco control |
| Stomach | 22 600 | Helicobacter pylori | |
| Bladder | 22 000 | Schistosoma, tobacco, | Tobacco control; anti-schistosomal drugs, |
*
sub-Saharan Africa only