PRESIDENT IRFAAN ALI CAN LEAD FIGHT AGAINST CANCER IN GUYANA AND IN THE WORLD

Like the rest of the world, Guyana faces a severe cancer burden. In the first six months of 2026, there were 704 new cancer cases diagnosed. This means that Guyana could see almost 1500 new cases for 2026 alone, an incidence rate of about 160 per 100,000 persons. Prostate, breast, cervical, colorectal, and endometrial cancers were the top five cancers in Guyana so far in 2026. In 2025, 34 children were diagnosed with cancer. With improving diagnostics, the story can be even more frightening for Guyana. But this is also the global story, with every country affected.
President Irfaan Ali can use the Commonwealth Heads of State 2026 meeting in November in Antigua and Barbuda to lead a Commonwealth-led global fight against cancer. He and the First Lady are leading advocates in the fight against gender-based cancers, prostate, and cervical cancers in Guyana. President Irfaan Ali, in partnership with the Minister of Health and Men of Mission (MoM), has intensified the fight against prostate cancer. The First Lady has been a leading advocate in the fight against cervical cancer in Guyana and in the Caribbean Region. The Commonwealth Heads Meeting will be a good opportunity for both to become global leaders, not only in the fight against prostate and cervical cancers, but against all cancers.
President Irfaan Ali has instructed Minister Frank Anthony to work with Mount Sinai of New York to ensure the establishment of a comprehensive cancer centre in Guyana for world-class diagnostics, treatment and care services by 2030. The Minister of Health himself has intensified the fight against cancer. In part the increased diagnosis of prostate cancer and other cancers in Guyana reflects the improved diagnostic testing available and the aggressive screening campaign that the government has been leading. The planned comprehensive cancer centre can revolutionise the fight against cancer in Guyana.
The WHO 2026 Global Status Report on cancer portends a frightening future for the world. Globally, there were 19.5 million new cancer diagnoses (20.6 million including nonmelanoma skin cancer) in 2024, with 9.9 million men and 9.6 million women receiving such a diagnosis and 9.7 million cancer deaths. There were 400,000 new cancer diagnoses in children. The Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) projects that new cancer cases will reach 35 million annually and cancer deaths will reach 18.6 million by 2050, with the largest increases in incidence and mortality rates occurring in low- and middle-income countries. These figures must serve as both a warning and a call to action. Unless we change the current trajectory, one in five people globally will develop cancer, and 92 per cent of the global population will be affected.
Guyana, CARICOM and other Commonwealth countries must ensure they utilise the full arsenal of tools already available but still not accessible to most of the developing countries. We must change this ugly dispensation now. President Ali can lead a paradigm shift empowering developing countries to access all cancer-fighting tools utilised in developed countries.
Use of existing scientific knowledge and tools – particularly in high-income countries – guided by the WHO 90-70-90 targets for cervical cancer elimination has led to impressive progress in the elimination of cervical cancer. Already, several high-income countries are on the verge of eliminating cervical cancer by 2050. If Commonwealth leaders support the optimal use of these tools based on the roadmap proposed in the recent Lancet Oncology Perspective, their countries can contribute to the first-ever elimination of a cancer. Lessons from cervical cancer can also be applied to hepatitis B-linked liver cancer and other pathogen-linked cancers.
Indeed, use of existing science-based knowledge and tools can prevent up to 40 per cent of cancers today. A GLOBOCAN study attributed 7.1 million (37.8 per cent) of 18.7 million cancer cases to 30 modifiable risk factors. Similarly, we already have the knowledge and tools at our disposal to reduce incidence, morbidity and mortality across the cancer control continuum of risk management, screening and prevention, early detection and diagnostics, treatment (including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery), survivorship, palliation and end-of-life support. Utilising the framework proposed in the Lancet Commonwealth Cancer Roadmap Perspective, the Commonwealth and the world can change the present projections for cancers by 2050.
While additional knowledge and tools will further improve the trajectory of elimination, financing the optimal use of existing knowledge and tools represents a “best buy” for health and development. In a brief for the Lancet Commissioners, Rifat Atun and colleagues demonstrated a significant percentage of averted deaths and a return on investment of $16 to $24 for every $1 invested in the cancer control continuum, regardless of geography or economic status.
Taking leadership to combat cancer, if it happens, will not be the first time Guyana has taken health leadership in the world. Between 2001 and 2010, Guyana became a leader in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Guyana was among the first developing countries to use a cocktail of medicines to reduce and eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV. When Guyana introduced vaccines such as the rotavirus, pneumococcus and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines between 2008 and 2010, Guyana became a lead country in the expansion of childhood immunisation. Guyana was among the first developing countries to screen transfused blood for hepatitis C and for Zika.
These and several other initiatives demonstrate that even when we were a resource-poor country, Guyana was not afraid to take global leadership in fighting for the right to health and for better health for all citizens. Cancer has been a major global health threat for a long time now. It is time for a global battle to curb the cancer threat. Guyana must take the lead, and this can start with the Commonwealth Heads Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda in November.