One in five people will face skin cancer before the age of 75, points out the Cancer Foundation, which is sounding the alarm in the face of an explosion of cases in recent decades. On Wednesday, she called on the federal and regional governments to materialize a national action plan. In 2019, skin cancer accounted for 40% of all (invasive) cancers recorded in Belgium, far ahead of breast (10%), prostate (9%), lung (8%) and lung cancer. intestine (7%). A total of 45,733 new cases of skin cancer were diagnosed. And by 2030, no less than 80,000 cases will be discovered, because this explosion in incidence will take many years to be curbed, underlines Dr Didier Vander Steichel, of the Cancer Foundation.
However, this cancer is not fatal: early detection (at the first stage of the disease) offers good chances of survival (close to 100%) while, taken at the last stage, these chances fall below 60% from the first year following diagnosis.
But without urgent action, warns the Foundation, the cumulative costs of skin cancer for social security will reach 3.5 billion euros by 2034 (more expensive new treatments, long-term care, etc.) . There will also be the problem of the availability of caregivers: the burden of care will increase by around 100 patients per doctor by 2030.
“It is high time to act!”, concludes Vander Steichel.
