Can We Treat Cancer for a Dollar a Day? Guidelines for Low-Income Countries

In 2002, approximately 7.6 million people worldwide died of cancer. These deaths accounted for 13% of all deaths worldwide in that year and, perhaps surprisingly, exceeded the number of deaths from HIV–AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined (which totaled approximately 5.6 million). The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that if current trends continue, the global cancer burden will increase from 10 million new cases per year in 2000 to 16 million by 2020. Remarkably, 70% of these cases will be in the developing world, where the number will grow from 5.2 million annually to 8.8 million by 2020.1 Currently, a . . .