WHO warns of “catastrophic impact” of pandemic on cancer patients

The impact of the coronavirus on the health system has had an effect “catastrophic” in cancer patients and, in some countries, up to 50% of diagnostic, review and treatment services have been affected, warned the European regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Director of WHO-EuropeHans Kluge, lamented in an appearance the “deadly interaction” created by the pandemic COVID-19 and highlighted that 44% of countries globally reported an increase in delays in services related to cancer in the second half of 2021.

During the start of the pandemic, diagnoses of invasive tumors fell, for example, by 44% in Belgium; Colorectal cancer screenings fell by 46% in Italy and the number of cancers diagnosed in Spain in 2020 was 34% lower than expected.

The global situation regarding cancer health care has improved in the last months of the pandemic, but the chain reaction caused by these alterations will be felt “during years”, he highlighted Kluge.

The director of WHO-Europe admitted that health personnel are “overflowed” Y “exhausted” after two years of pandemic, but at the same time emphasized the importance of redirecting a situation “without precedents”.

“Any respite provided by the broad immunity provided by vaccination and the lesser severity of the omicron variant, coupled with the arrival of spring and summer, should be used immediately to allow health workers to return to other important roles and reduce delays in chronic disease services”, he claimed.

Cancer is one of the main causes of mortality and illness in the European region and accounts for 20% of all deaths registered in it, although between 30% and 40% of those registered in it are avoidable, pointed out the who on the eve of World Cancer Day.