Africa Has The Lowest Incidence of Cancer in the World

 
Are we to believe that Africa truly as the least incidence of cancer in the world?  Perhaps, but this is likely due to the fact the life expectancy on Africa is so low that cancer is not given the opportunity to affect total mortality.

‪I would suggest these maps illustrate the difference between developed nations and undeveloped nations. I don’t think any of us would dispute that health care in Africa is undeveloped – they still have men following 3 foot shafts hundreds to thousands of feet below the surface of the earth in 100 degree weather chiseling for platinum and dying weekly in this environment.  I suspect that the US and other developed nations are providing far more reliable health statistics simply because we do have real infrastructure and real (albeit fragmented) health care. 

Along the same line of reasoning, US infant death rates reflect badly on the US because we count any potentially viable birth as a true birth. When a 3 month old premature infant dies, it is a mortality statistic, even though in reality without all our sophisticated technologies and treatments (as is the case in many nations), this wouldn’t be an infant death, rather it would be consider a spontaneous/natural abortion. 

‪Notice how the incidence of cervical cancer is very high in Africa but not in the rest of the developed nations. This is because it is an infectious disease (caused by human papilloma virus). In the US we have very low infection rates due to advanced water supplies, antibiotics, and excellent personal hygiene. In the case of cervical cancer, HPV vaccinations and decades of successful cancer screenings have dramatically reduced mortality due to cervical cancer.  Cervical cancer incidence in the US will be virtually non-existent in the next generation.