A landmark resolution of the UN General Assembly adopted in New York earlier this month called for action to address the increasing trends in premature deaths from non-communicable diseases worldwide, with a particular focus on developing countries.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announces GLOBOCAN 2008, which provides the most accurate assessment of the global cancer burden and shows that in 2008 a majority of the 12.7 million new cases of cancer and the 7.6 million cancer deaths worldwide occurred in developing countries.

On June 1, 2010 IARC announced the release of GLOBOCAN 2008, an online resource for cancer researchers, policy-makers and the media alike, which provides worldwide estimates of the numbers of new cases of, and deaths from, cancer for 2008.

Information is provided for the overall burden of cancer and for 27 specific cancer types for almost all countries or territories of the world. According to GLOBOCAN, an estimated 12.7 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths occurred in 2008. Dr Christopher Wild, IARC Director, stated: "These figures represent the most accurate assessment of the global cancer burden available at present and can be used in the setting of priorities for cancer control in different regions of the world; they form a vital foundation to future responses to the UN resolution on non-communicable diseases."

GLOBOCAN 2008 demonstrates that a higher proportion of the cancer burden occurs in less developed regions of the world, both in terms of cancer incidence (56 per cent of new cancer cases in 2008 occur within developing regions) and cancer mortality (63 per cent of cancer deaths). The most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide are lung (1.61 million, 12.7 per cent of the total), breast (1.38 million, 10.9 per cent) and colorectal cancers (1.23 million, 9.7 per cent). The most common causes of cancer death are lung (1.38 million, 18.2 per cent of the total), stomach (0.74 million, 9.7 per cent) and liver cancers (0.69 million, 9.2 per cnet). Cancer is neither rare anywhere in the world, nor confined to high-resource countries. "Striking differences in the patterns of cancer from region to region are observed," Dr Wild added. "Cervix and liver cancers are much more common in developing regions of the world, whereas prostate and colorectal cancers are more common in developed regions."

The online resource is easy to use and has facilities to produce maps and other graphics. In addition, a series of fact sheets describe the overall cancer burden within specific areas or countries, as well as the major global patterns for eight common cancers.

Further, GLOBOCAN 2008 provides the user with facilities to predict the future cancer incidence and mortality burden over the next 20 years according to the foreseen changes in population aging and population growth. Thus, assuming underlying rates of cancer will remain unaltered over the next two decades, GLOBOCAN 2008 projects that by 2030, there will be almost 21.4 million new cases diagnosed annually and that there will be over 13.2 million deaths from cancer.

The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications, meetings, courses, and fellowships. The monitoring of cancer occurrence is fundamental to developing research into the etiology of the disease as well as to planning and evaluating public health interventions. Geographic comparisons, temporal trends and ecological studies provide clues to the etiology of cancer. GLOBOCAN 2008 is one of several key reference tools produced by IARC for cancer epidemiologists worldwide available at CancerMondial.