Cancer in Africa

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Data on cancer patterns in Africa are sparse, but the considerable effort which has gone into fostering the development of population-based cancer registration in the continent is now bearing fruit. Many of the registries are too recently-established to have submitted data for the book Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Volume VII, and it will only be possible for a small minority to achieve such publication due to the circumstances in which they work, with poor medical infrastructure and limited access thereto. Nonetheless, the data they are producing give a unique insight into cancer patterns in the continent and this publication helps analyse and disseminate information on cancer occurrence worldwide for the purposes of epidemiological research and cancer control. The publication Cancer in Africa presents a compendium of data on the incidence or frequency of cancer in Africa for the decade of the 1990's. In addition to the tabular material from 30 contemporary cancer registries, a systematic review by country presents all of the relevant historic data from the scientific literature. A review of the epidemiology of 16 cancers, drawing together studies on the African continent in the last 50 years, is also included. Estimates of incidence and mortality by county for the year 2000 are provided in electronic format.