Forskning viser, at 80 procent af alle cancer-fødefald sker i udviklingslandene, og brystkræft er dødeligt under-dianogsticeret.

LONDON, 26 January 2012 (IRIN) - Breast cancer continues to be misunderstood, under-diagnosed and fatal, particularly in developing countries, say researchers, despite more than one million official annual diagnoses and almost half a million recorded deaths annually.

Even with growing efforts from donors and health agencies to draw more attention to chronic non-communicable diseases, awareness about cancer still lags, said Sara Stulac, clinical director in Rwanda for the US-headquartered Partners in Health NGO.

"Just bringing up the fact that there are children suffering from cancer in Rwanda, the reaction I often get is 'Oh, cancer - Africa - I never thought about that'."

"We're victims of our own success, which is very good news," Harvard University's director of Global Equity Initiative, Felicia Knaul, told IRIN, referring to declining numbers of deaths from some communicable diseases in developing countries.

The downside of that success is, "You go on to live through other risks and get other diseases", she added.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency on Research on Cancer estimated in 2008 that breast cancer was the most frequently officially diagnosed cancer among women, with an estimated 1.38 million cases.

It was also the most frequently reported cause of death by cancer for women.

Eighty percent of up to 3.7 million of deaths by cancer - all types - are reported in developing countries, according to recent research Knaul co-authored with the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries at Harvard University.

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