State unable to meet cancer death prevention targets

A TARGET to reduce preventable cancer deaths by 25 per cent by 2025, signed at an international summit on cancer in Dublin yesterday, will not be met by Ireland, the director of the National Cancer Control Programme has said.

Dr Susan O'Reilly told The Irish Timesthat the target contained in the Dublin Resolution and signed by more than 60 countries at the World Cancer Leaders' Summit yesterday was "overly optimistic" and did not take into account Ireland's ageing population.

More than 20,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in Ireland every year and 7,500 people die from the disease. To implement the target made in the Dublin Resolution, Ireland would have to reduce cancer cases by more than 5,000 a year by 2025.

“In reality, the projections from the Irish national cancer registry are that the incidence of cancer in Ireland related to the ageing of the population is going to go up 46 per cent between 2010 and 2020,” Dr O’Reilly said. “And between 2010 and 2030, just due to the changing demographics in age, the incidence of cancer in Ireland will go up by 100 per cent.”

She said if everyone decided to quit smoking today, there would be a reduction in smoking-related illnesses by 2025, but she questioned whether this would result in a reduction in the overall incidence of cancer. The intent of the resolution was “absolutely excellent”, Dr O’Reilly said, and sharing best practice was invaluable. “I would strongly support the Dublin Resolution,” Dr O’Reilly added, “but with the proviso that we have to factor in the natural increase in cancer we can see from ageing and develop a realistic projection for where we would like to be in the future.”

Along with the pledge to reduce preventable deaths from non-communicable diseases including cancer by 2025, the Dublin Resolution also spelled out actions governments need to take, in areas such as prevention, early detection, treatment and care, to reduce cancer deaths.

It built on the UN declaration on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, published in September. The Irish Cancer Society was the Irish signatory to the resolution.

The World Cancer Leaders’ Summit, in the Mansion House, was hosted by the society. The summit included representatives of ministries of health and cancer societies from more than 60 countries as well as MEPs, European Commission officials and World Health Organisation representatives.

Irish Cancer Society chief executive John McCormack said lifestyle changes, including giving up smoking, reducing alcohol and eating more healthily, could reduce the risk of cancer.

He highlighted the importance of setting and meeting targets to improve people’s health. “Challenging goals are critical to maintaining control of an epidemic that at some times seems impossible to manage, never mind decrease,” Mr McCormack added.

Cary Adams, chief executive of the Union of International Cancer Control, said he was optimistic the 2025 target could be achieved. He said about 30 per cent of cancers today could be prevented. “They are driven by risk factors, predominantly tobacco, so in the world of Ireland tomorrow where everybody gave up smoking, the impact on health in the next 10 to 15 years would be extraordinary,” he said.

Alojz Peterle, Slovenian MEP and president of MEPs Against Cancer, told delegates of his own fight against cancer and said many cancers were preventable. He pointed out that EU member states invested only 3 per cent of their health budgets on prevention. “This is a statistical mistake, not a policy,” he said.