When I used to work in a public university hospital in Germany, cancer patients were part of my daily work. Although I often worried about their prognosis, I always knew that every patient, no matter their economic background, would always receive the internationally recommended treatment. Unfortunately, this is only the case for less than 50% of cancer patients worldwide, which leads to huge differences in cancer survival rates. If you have breast cancer in a developed country, you have in average 80% survival rate in the next 5 years, but in India and other developing countries this figure drops to 40%.

Asia accounts for 60% of the world population, and half the global burden of cancer. The incidence of cancer cases is estimated to increase to 70% by 2030, in part due to a growing aging population, lifestyle and socioeconomic changes. However, the estimates for Asia are based on weak health management information systems. — Blogs.adb.org/blog