- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
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- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
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- Stokes out of England's Champions Trophy squad
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- Angry questions in Germany after Christmas market attack
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- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- India's architecture fans guard Mumbai's Art Deco past
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- Beaten Fury says Usyk got 'Christmas gift' from judges
One million children lose mother to cancer a year: research
Around one million children worldwide lose their mother to cancer every year, often leaving orphans caught up in a "vicious cycle of disadvantage", researchers said Wednesday.
The first-ever estimate for the number of children left motherless from cancer was announced at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva on Wednesday.
It was prompted by a study in Africa by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is based in Lyon, France.
That research followed more than 2,000 women with breast cancer in Namibia, Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria, over half of whom died in just five years.
The study illustrated that "the intergenerational impact of cancer deaths of mothers hasn't been documented," IARC epidemiologist Valerie McCormack told AFP.
So the IARC researchers calculated that out of the four million who died from cancer in 2020, one million children were left motherless.
Around 45 percent of the mothers died from breast and cervical cancer, which are "very preventable", McCormack said, calling for more investment to fight both diseases.
During the research in sub-Saharan Africa, McCormack said families described selling their land to pay for cancer treatment, leaving no money left for educating the children.
"It's a vicious cycle of disadvantage" for poorer families, she said.
The researchers arrived at their global estimate, which has not been peer reviewed, by combining the number of annual female cancer deaths from IARC's GLOBOCAN database with fertility data from the United Nations.
More women than men die from cancer between the ages of 35 and 50 worldwide, largely due to cancer in female reproductive organs.
As time goes on, the situation reverses as men increasingly get prostate and lifestyle-related types of cancer.
And people in high-income countries are more likely to die from cancer later in life, when their children are grown.
McCormack said the IARC was working on finding a similar global figure for children left fatherless by cancer, but it was a trickier equation without the fertility data.
R.Veloso--PC