Only 8 countries could lower early deaths, meet UN SDG by 2030: Report

Even as premature deaths due to cancer have come down across three-fourths of the world, only eight countries are likely to meet the related United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 3.4, pointed out a recent study.

The target is concerned with slashing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, by a third by 2030 through prevention and treatment.

For the study, researchers, including those from the World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland, calculated the risk of dying prematurely for people aged 30-69 years to discern how the pattern of yearly premature deaths due to cancer changed from 2000-2019 across 183 countries.

Data from the WHO Global Health Estimates were used.

The research team found that while overall early deaths due to all cancers fell across South-East Asian countries, early deaths due to breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer increased. The findings were published in The Lancet Oncology.

However, "for most countries, (early deaths due to cancer) rates are not declining fast enough to reach SDG 3.4 targets. No WHO region will reach SDG 3.4 targets for all cancers combined," the authors wrote.

By 2050, 35 million new cancer cases are predicted, with the highest burden expected in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and low-income countries (LICs), according to the researchers.

Previous studies have found that cancer, along with cardiovascular (heart-related) disease, are now the first or second causes of premature death in most countries and WHO regions, the authors said.

However, no studies have evaluated early deaths due to each cancer type, they said.