Childhood Cancer Emerges as Major Health Challenge, Reveals GBD 2023 Study
Cancer has become a significant cause of mortality among children, ranking as the tenth leading cause of death in India, according to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study published in The Lancet. Globally, it is now the eighth leading cause of death among children, surpassing illnesses such as measles, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, with outcomes largely influenced by the availability of healthcare resources.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, estimates that in 2023 there were around 3.77 lakh new cases of childhood cancer worldwide, leading to approximately 1.44 lakh deaths.
While the number of new cases has remained relatively stable since 1990, global deaths have declined by 27 percent. However, the burden remains heavily skewed toward low- and middle-income countries, which accounted for 85 percent of new cases, 94 percent of deaths, and 94 percent of disability-adjusted life years in 2023. South Asia alone contributed 20.5 percent of global childhood cancer deaths, witnessing a comparatively smaller decline of 16.9 percent over the same period. In India, an estimated 17,000 children died due to cancer in 2023.
The study also highlights that leukemia, brain cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were the leading contributors to the global childhood cancer burden in 2023.
