Africa faces a growing cancer crisis, recording 1,540,000 incident cases across all age groups and sexes in 2023.

The continent-wide health impact resulted in 923,000 cancer-related deaths during the same period, according to figures from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023.

The disease burden is unevenly distributed between genders, with females accounting for the majority of new diagnoses.

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Women recorded 960,000 incident cases, while men registered 580,000 cases. Breast and cervical cancers form the bulk of the health threat to women, combining to make up 53.5% of all female cases.

Beyond direct mortality, the broader toll on life and health spans tens of millions of years. Cancer accounted for 33,900,000 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) across both sexes and all age groups.

The overwhelming majority of this impact stems directly from premature mortality, as DALYs attributable to years of life lost reached 98.2%.