Nigel Evans MP is supporting the Less Survivable Cancer’s Taskforce’s (LSCT) Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day 2024 to improve the current survival chances of people diagnosed with cancers of the lung, liver, brain, oesophagus, pancreas or stomach (the Less Survivable Cancers).
As it stands, over 90,000 people will be diagnosed with one of these cancers in the UK each year – equating for a quarter of all cancer diagnosis, however these six cancers account for 40% of all cancer deaths within the UK.
The LSCT have recently released figures, based on a new analysis of existing data and the world survival rankings of lung, liver, brain, oesophageal, pancreatic and stomach cancers, which show that the UK lags behind other countries when it comes to patient survival.
The data shows that out of 33 countries of comparable wealth and income levels, the UK ranks as low as 28th for five-year survival for both stomach and lung cancer. This rises slightly to 26th for pancreatic cancer, 25th for brain cancer and 21st and 16th for liver and oesophageal cancers respectively.
The countries with the highest five year survival rates for less survivable cancers were Korea, Belgium, USA, Australia and China and the new analysis found that, if people in the UK survived at the same rate as those in these countries, then over 8,000 lives could be saved annually.
Commenting on this, Nigel Evans MP said:
“I fully support the work being done by the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce in raising awareness of the Less Survivable Cancers and the need to improve survival rates within the UK.
“If we are able to improve early diagnosis of these cancers and bring our survival rates in line with some of the best performing countries on this issue then we could significantly improve the lives of thousands of patients who are diagnosed with these cancers.”
Anna Jewell, Chair of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, said:
“People diagnosed with a less survivable cancer are already fighting against the odds for survival. The figures we’re sharing today show that people living in the UK have even worse prospects than those living in comparable countries.
“We can see from these statistics that if we could bring the survivability of these cancers on level with the best-performing countries in the world then we could give valuable years to thousands of patients.
“It’s a really positive step to see so many MPs supporting our Less Survivable Awareness Day."