News Release

Global health experts call into question sub-Saharan cancer data

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Queen Mary University of London

Global health experts believe the current data on cancer prevalence, incidence and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa - which determines how billions of pounds of international development money is spent - are weak and could mean vital funds are being deflected from other priorities. These include diarrhoeal and waterborne diseases, malnutrition, sanitation and the need to strengthen health systems.

Cancer data compiled by the World Health Organisation's (WHO) GLOBOCAN project has huge global influence and is used by Governments and international NGOs to determine health and funding priorities in sub-Saharan Africa. However, no independent evaluation of the data has ever been undertaken.

For the first time, experts from Queen Mary University of London have critically evaluated all publically available information on the quality of cancer registration systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The team found that, despite poor population coverage and weak cancer registration systems methods (with the notable exception of the Gambian National Cancer Registry), the statistics generated by GLOBOCAN 2008 went on to be regularly cited by highly influential international funders to support their projects, without any caveats around their quality.

Published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the study highlights that almost 300 million people live in sub-Saharan African countries where there are no cancer registration systems. In those countries with registries, figures are predominantly gathered from large hospitals in urban areas, meaning results are disproportionately based on city data and on those able or willing to seek medical attention.

GLOBOCAN publishes cancer estimates for 184 countries. However, data gathered in countries with universal cancer registration coverage and high quality data collection systems are given equal weight to those countries with poor quality data, limited coverage and even no coverage. In most cases, data weaknesses mean the statistics estimated are not applicable to national populations as a whole, or to other sub-Saharan African countries.

Professor Allyson Pollock, Global Health Expert at Queen Mary University of London, comments: "Our research casts significant doubt on the usefulness and applicability of sub-Saharan cancer statistics routinely used by global health funders to determine priorities. We urge organisations such as the WHO, DfID, the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to reconsider their use of these cancer statistics until methodology is improved. We also feel the GLOBOCAN project should continue to be more transparent in clarifying the quality - or lack thereof - of their data."

Dr Tim Crocker-Buqué, who led the research at Queen Mary University of London, comments: "The true incidence and prevalence of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa remains largely unknown. It is therefore extremely worrying that GLOBOCAN statistics are being relied upon so heavily to set priorities, with huge amounts of money at stake. Global health funders should review their cancer programmes in light of the problems with evidence upon which they're based. The international community should put more resources behind improving the public health systems to ensure high quality health data and cancer registration systems in sun-Saharan African countries, especially where the WHO uses them in support of major interventions."

Traditionally infectious diseases have been the biggest health threats in low and middle income countries. However, in recent years greater focus has been placed on cancer - in particular, cervical cancer. For example, GLOBOCAN statistics have been used to support the rollout of the HPV vaccine and are often the only epidemiological data cited. The absence of strong surveillance systems for monitoring incidence and changes in mortality cast serious doubt on the ability of the international community to ever be able to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the programme.

Since the publication of the 2008 GLOBOCAN estimates in 2010, the African Cancer Registry Network has been founded in order to improve data quality and population coverage, this paper provides an important baseline against which to judge GLOBOCAN estimates for 2012, which were published last year.

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For more information contact:
Charli Scouller
PR Manager (School of Medicine and Dentistry)
Queen Mary University of London
c.scouller@qmul.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7882 7943

Notes to the editor

Full copies of the paper are available upon request.

GLOBOCAN is a project of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) body that undertakes research on carcinogens and cancer epidemiology. It uses data reported from local, regional and national cancer registries around the world to estimate incidence, prevalence, mortality and disability adjusted life years lost to cancer. GLOBOCAN published national estimates of cancer epidemiology in 184 countries for 2002 and 2008 and has recently released estimates for 2012.

About Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is one of the UK's leading universities, and one of the largest institutions in the University of London, with 20,260 students from more than 150 countries.

A member of the Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our research - in the most recent national assessment of the quality of research, we were placed ninth in the UK (REF 2014).

We also offer something no other university can: a stunning self-contained residential campus in London's East End. As well as our home at Mile End, we have campuses at Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square and West Smithfield dedicated to the study of medicine, and a base for legal studies at Lincoln's Inn Fields.

We have a rich history in London with roots in Europe's first public hospital, St Barts; England's first medical school, The London; one of the first colleges to provide higher education to women, Westfield College; and the Victorian philanthropic project, the People's Palace based at Mile End.

QMUL has an annual turnover of £350m, a research income worth £100m, and generates employment and output worth £700m to the UK economy each year.

About the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

The JRSM is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and is published by SAGE. It has full editorial independence from the RSM. It has been published continuously since 1809. Its Editor is Dr Kamran Abbasi.


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