Cancer in Northern Africa, Central and West Asia

Northern Africa, Central and West Asia is a diverse region characterized by relatively low but increasing cancer incidence rates. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in both sexes combined in all countries but Egypt (liver cancer), Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (stomach cancer), and Azerbaijan, Armenia, Tunisia, Türkiye (lung cancer) (Map 28.1).

This diverse region is undergoing major epidemiologic transition, with changes in population demographics and an increasing prevalence of risk factors contributing to a possible doubling of the cancer burden by 2050.

The three subregions have quite distinct cancer profiles (Figure 28.1). In Northern Africa, liver cancer is the second most common cancer among both sexes after breast cancer, with incidence and mortality rates in Egypt estimated to be the second highest worldwide in both men and women, largely due to the high prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the country.

In Central Asia, the observed cancer profiles are consistent with low to medium human development index (HDI) countries, with a high incidence of infection-related cancers, in particular, stomach cancer (10% of all cancer cases), as well as cervical cancer (see Human Development Index). Lung cancer mortality rates are second to breast cancer in the region (Figure 28.2).

West Asia is a large and diverse region, with specific cancer profiles corresponding to their high national levels of HDI, while also reflecting high levels of smoking in some countries, low alcohol consumption, as well as high prevalence of excess body fatness. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in both sexes combined, followed by lung cancer (Figure 28.1), the latter of which is also the most common cause of death from cancer in the region (Figure 28.2).