WHO World Cancer Report says cases will rise 70pc in next two decades

Cancer cases worldwide are predicted to increase by 70 per cent over the next two decades, from 14 million in 2012 to 25 million new cases a year, according to the World Health Organisation.

The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said cancer was growing "at an alarming pace" worldwide and new strategies were needed to curb the sometimes fatal and often costly disease.

"It's untenable to think we can treat our way out of the cancer problem. That alone will not be a sufficient response," Christopher Wild, IARC's director and co-editor of its World Cancer Report 2014, said in London.

"More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed ... to complement improved treatments and address the alarming rise in the cancer burden globally."

The "World Cancer Report", produced roughly once every five years, involved 250 scientists from more than 40 countries.

It said access to effective and relatively inexpensive cancer drugs would significantly cut death rates, even in places where health-care services are less well developed.

The spiralling costs of cancer are hurting the economies of even the richest countries and are often way beyond the reach of poorer nations.