Cancer Burdens in West Africa

  • Commentary

Current Challenges

  • Sub-Saharan West Africa faces a growing cancer burden, with high mortality rates due largely to late-stage diagnosis and limited health infrastructures. Across sub-Saharan Africa there are seven cancer deaths for every ten new diagnoses, against three in the wealthiest regions.[4]
  • More than 70% of breast cancers in sub-Saharan Africa are diagnosed at stage III or IV, when treatment is limited, costly, and often palliative rather than curative: 77% across the region and 76% in Nigeria.[5][6]
  • Breast, cervical, and prostate cancers account for 47% of new cancer cases in West Africa, despite being among the most treatable when detected early.[1]
  • 94% of the roughly 350,000 cervical cancer deaths worldwide in 2022 occurred in low- and middle-income countries.[7]
  • 1 in 2 women in Africa diagnosed with breast cancer die within 5 years. In a cohort of 2,153 women followed in five sub-Saharan countries, five-year survival was 40%.[8][9]
  • A 2026 study in The Lancet Global Health found that 62% of the deaths expected within five years of a cancer diagnosis in West Africa are avoidable through prevention, earlier detection, and timely access to treatment.[10]
West Africa accounted for 25% of the 1,216,350 new cancer cases in Africa in 2024. In West Africa, breast cancer was 41% of new cancers in women (25% of all new cases), cervical cancer 17% of new cancers in women, and prostate cancer 31% of new cancers in men. Source: IARC Global Cancer Observatory, GLOBOCAN 2024.
  • Cancer Burden

The Growing Burden

  • In West Africa, the risk of developing cancer before age 75 is 12.2%; across Africa it is 13.1%.[1][2]
  • If today's rates stay the same, population growth and ageing alone would take West Africa from 304,040 new cancer cases and 189,060 cancer deaths in 2024 to 664,630 new cases and 420,919 deaths in 2050.[3]
  • Inadequate government funding, focus and resourcing, poor patient awareness, limited training for healthcare workers, and lack of access to diagnostic and therapeutic options continue to plague cancer disease management and outcomes in sub-Saharan West Africa.
Projected change in West Africa from 2024 to 2050 if today's rates stay the same and only the population grows and ages: all cancers, new cases up 119% (304,040 to 664,630) and deaths up 123% (189,060 to 420,919); breast cancer cases up 113% and deaths up 115%; cervical cancer cases up 121% and deaths up 123%; prostate cancer cases up 146% and deaths up 146%. Source: IARC Global Cancer Observatory, Cancer Tomorrow.
  • CONvergence pressures

Why This Matters Now

To improve health outcomes in West Africa, we must address the convergence of socio-economic and structural pressures. By bridging the gap between diagnostic capability and patient affordability, and advocating for long-term government mitigation strategies, we can help build more resilient systems for a growing population.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of the sources below, and every percentage was computed from the counts in the source named. Bracketed numbers in the text point to this list. Last checked 14 September 2026.

  1. Western Africa: population fact sheet, GLOBOCAN 2024. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Global Cancer Observatory, 2024. Western Africa (UN region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo). https://gco.iarc.who.int/media/globocan/factsheets/populations/914-western-africa-fact-sheet.pdf
  2. Africa: population fact sheet, GLOBOCAN 2024. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Global Cancer Observatory, 2024. Africa. https://gco.iarc.who.int/media/globocan/factsheets/populations/903-africa-fact-sheet.pdf
  3. Cancer Tomorrow: predicted numbers of new cases and deaths, 2024 to 2050, Western Africa (demographic projection, rates held constant). International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Global Cancer Observatory, 2024. Western Africa. https://gco.iarc.who.int/tomorrow/
  4. Ngwa W, Addai BW, Adewole I, et al. Cancer in sub-Saharan Africa: a Lancet Oncology Commission. The Lancet Oncology 2022; 23(6): e251-e312, 2022. Sub-Saharan Africa. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9393090/
  5. Jedy-Agba E, McCormack V, Adebamowo C, dos-Santos-Silva I. Stage at diagnosis of breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Global Health 2016; 4: e923-e935, 2016. Sub-Saharan Africa (17 countries, 83 studies, 26,788 women). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5708541/
  6. Agodirin O, Chijioke C, Mustapha F, et al. Nigeria's 6-year (2018-2023) stage distribution of breast cancer at diagnosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ecancermedicalscience 2025, 2025. Nigeria (11 studies, 1,647 patients). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12149240/
  7. Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative. World Health Organization, 2022. Global (2022 data). https://www.who.int/initiatives/cervical-cancer-elimination-initiative
  8. Three African countries pilot initiative to boost cervical and breast cancer care (22 September 2023). World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, 2023. WHO African Region. https://www.afro.who.int/countries/cote-divoire/news/three-african-countries-pilot-initiative-boost-cervical-and-breast-cancer-care
  9. Mo T, Joffe M, Cubasch H, et al. Breast cancer overall survival, annual risks of death, and survival gap apportionment in sub-Saharan Africa (ABC-DO): 7-year follow-up of a prospective cohort study. The Lancet Global Health 2025; 13(10): e1681-e1690, 2025. Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia (2,153 women). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12446903/
  10. Langselius O, Rumgay H, Vignat J, et al. Avoidable deaths through the primary prevention, early detection, and curative treatment of cancer worldwide: a population-based study. The Lancet Global Health 2026; 14(3): e356-e366, 2026. Global, reported by 19 world regions including West Africa. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12920038/