{"id":328804,"date":"2026-07-10T06:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T06:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=328804"},"modified":"2026-07-11T14:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:01:20","slug":"doctor-warns-of-cancer-tsunami-as-who-projects-sharp-rise-in-cases-by-2050","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=328804","title":{"rendered":"Doctor warns of \u2018cancer tsunami\u2019 as WHO projects sharp rise in cases by 2050"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prisha Dev \u2013 Global News July 8, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

A new report from the World Health Organization warns that the number of people diagnosed with cancer<\/a> each year is expected to surge over the next quarter-century.<\/p>\n

The report projects annual cancer diagnoses will climb from about 20 million today to nearly 35 million by 2050.<\/p>\n

While some cancers are declining thanks to prevention efforts, experts warn aging populations, rising obesity rates and other risk factors will place unprecedented pressure on health-care systems around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to focus attention on what some people are calling the cancer tsunami,\u201d said Dr. Peter Stotland, chief of surgery and a surgical oncologist at North York General Hospital.<\/p>\n

Stotland told Global News the findings mirror what doctors are already seeing in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing just higher numbers of people coming in with cancer,\u201d he said, pointing to an aging population that is expected to drive increases in lung, prostate and colorectal cancers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s shocking because this is something that we\u2019re seeing on a regional, provincial level and a national level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, doctors are also seeing more young people diagnosed with colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can be seeing two spikes\u2026 one in older people and another in younger people with cancer,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to put a lot of stress on the health-care system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WHO\u2019s International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates cancer cases will increase worldwide over the next 25 years, though the reasons vary by region.<\/p>\n

Dr. Isabelle Soerjomataram, a medical doctor and deputy head of the agency\u2019s Cancer Surveillance Branch, said higher-income countries such as Canada will likely see more cases among older adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really not equipped to handle this increasing demand,\u201d she said, noting the imbalance between the growing number of cancer patients and the health-care workforce needed to care for them.<\/p>\n

The report also found cancer reaches far beyond those diagnosed.<\/p>\n

Researchers estimate that while roughly 20 million people receive a cancer diagnosis each year, about 92 per cent of the world\u2019s population is personally affected through a family member, caregiver or close friend.<\/p>\n

Toronto resident Nadia Headley knows that impact first hand.<\/p>\n

Headley was just 30 years old when she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer while raising her four-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately went into mom mode,\u201d she said, recalling receiving the diagnosis with her daughter in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried so hard to stay strong in front of my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said explaining cancer to a young child while navigating treatment herself was one of the hardest parts of the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Mommy is not well and the doctors need to fix mommy\u2019s body,’\u201d she remembered telling her daughter. \u201c\u2018The medication they\u2019re going to give mommy is going to make mommy feel really sick.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Headley is cancer-free but continues to live with the long-term effects of treatment, including lymphedema.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an open-and-closed case as you might think,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are side effects from treatment as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the projections, experts say millions of future cancer cases could still be prevented.<\/p>\n

The WHO estimates roughly four in 10 cancers are linked to preventable risk factors such as tobacco use, obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption and certain infections.<\/p>\n

Stotland said Canadians can lower their risk through healthy lifestyle choices and benefit from recommended screening programs, including breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many cancers can be picked up with this type of screening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For governments, however, both experts say planning must begin now. \u201cCancer is not going anywhere,\u201d Stotland said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we\u2019re curing a lot of cancer, just with our aging population we\u2019re unfortunately going to see increases in the number of cancer patients seeking treatment. We need to plan for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013with files from Katherine Ward, Global News<\/em><\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new World Health Organisation report warns that cancer rates are expected to nearly double over the next 25 years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":222734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328806,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328804\/revisions\/328806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/222734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}