INNOVATION ON CANCER PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT

Abstract

Cancer is a global problem with a continued increase in cases and deaths year after year (WHO, 2026). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer will cause nearly 10 million deaths by 2024, or approximately one in every six deaths worldwide. In the same year, lung cancer will be the type of cancer with the highest number of new cases (2.6 million cases), followed by breast cancer (2.4 million cases), colorectal cancer (2.0 million cases), prostate cancer (1.5 million cases), non-melanoma skin cancer (1.1 million cases), and gastric cancer (1.0 million cases). In terms of mortality, lung cancer is also the leading cause of cancer deaths with approximately 1.86 million deaths, followed by colorectal cancer (918,000 deaths), liver cancer (732,000 deaths), breast cancer (694,000 deaths), and gastric cancer (642,000 deaths) (WHO, 2026).

Cancer has a broad impact on social, economic, and public health. Socially, cancer patients often experience a decreased quality of life, psychological distress, changes in family roles, and increased physical, emotional, and financial burdens, which are also felt by family members as caregivers (Rojas, Sethna, Soares, Olcese, Pang, et al., 2023; Shiravand et al., 2022; Wermke et al., 2026). Economically, cancer causes high costs for diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care, which can lead to financial toxicity, loss of work productivity, decreased income, and even catastrophic health expenditures. At the public health level, the increasing incidence of cancer increases the need for screening services, early diagnosis, therapy, rehabilitation, and palliative care, while simultaneously placing significant pressure on health care systems and widening the gap in access to oncology services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries