Cancer in the UK

• Increased risks of cancer are associated with obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking and alcohol abuse.
• Since the 1970s, cancer rates in the UK have risen by 23% for men and 43% for women.
• Cultural/Socio-economic causes

  Sunbeds lead to skin cancer due to overexposure to UV.

  More alcohol can cause orla, oesophageal and liver cancer.

  Microwaved ready meals linked with bowel cancer.

  Rise in vaping and smoking; 1/5th of all cancer diagnoses are smoking related.

  Increases in wages leads to overnutrition, leading to obesity.
• 3 million people live with cancer in the UK as a of 2022. It is predicted to rise to 5.4 million by 2040.
• Economic impacts

  A single patient costs the UK economy £570 a month according to MacMillan.

  Cancer patients cost the economy £15 billion a year due to early deaths, absentees from work, treatment on the NHS and unpaid care.
• Cancer and socio-economic deprivation

  Deprivation increases likelihood of smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity.

  The poorest areas of the UK have rates of cancer that are 3x greater than affluent areas.

  Deprivation and cancer are prominent in former industrial areas in northern England, south Wales and London.

  14.2% of affluent women survive bladder cancer compared to their deprived counterparts.
• Government strategies.

  Investment in medical technology; more precise forms of radiotherapy and endoscopy for early diagnosis and intervention.

  Mass screening; screening for breast, cervical & bowel cancer is already establishing and effective. Survival rates would be improved from reducing wait times.

  Cancer research; focusing on improving understanding of the disease, developing new treatments, discovering new drugs & genetic engineering.
• Indirect government and international agency mitigation strategies.

  Cancer UK; Charity that researches the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer which is funded by donations, legacies and charity events, operating at hospitals and universities throughout the UK.

  WHO; IARC conducts epidemiology & lab research into the causes of disease.
• Health campaigns

  Informing on the dangers of smoking, excessive drinking and unbalanced diets can reduce the incidence of preventable cancers.

  ’Help Us Help You’ NHS screening campaign; used images of South Asian and Black communities to target groups that don‘t go to the doctors.

  MacMillan’s ‘Stop Cancer Becoming the Forgotten C’; highlighting problems in the NHS since COVID-19; lobbying government £170 million to fund training 4000 nurses by 2030.
• Cancer survival rate has doubled in the last 50 years.
• Genetic modification can remove genes susceptible to cancer via CRISPR.
• By 2028 the NHS aims for 55000 more people a year to survive their cancer for 5 years of more; 75% of people with cancer will be diagnosed earlier (stages 1 & 2).