Cancer deaths in the UK have fallen to their lowest level ever recorded, but experts warn that three types of cancer are showing a sharp increase: liver, uterine and head and neck cancer.
According to new data from Cancer Research UK, while overall cancer mortality continues to fall, these three types are moving in the opposite direction.
Head and neck cancer is a general term that includes cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, nose, sinuses, and salivary glands. Studies suggest that a large proportion of oropharyngeal cancers — which affect the back of the throat, tonsils, and base of the tongue — may be linked to the HPV virus.
This virus, which spreads through close contact, including sexual intercourse, is usually harmless. But in some people it can promote the development of cancer.
The rise in head and neck cancer, especially in young and middle-aged adults, has been linked to HPV infections. Warning signs include mouth sores that don't heal, a hoarse voice, and unexplained lumps or masses in the mouth or neck.
Meanwhile, liver cancer is now one of the fastest growing causes of cancer deaths in Britain, with mortality rates almost twice as high as 20 years ago.
Over the past two decades, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives to this disease, and experts believe the toll could rise further in the coming years.
According to specialists, a growing and aging population, combined with increasing pressure on the British public health service, the NHS, is making it more difficult to maintain progress in all types of cancer.
However, the overall picture remains encouraging. Cancer death rates in the UK are now 29 per cent lower than their peak in 1989, with around 250 deaths per 100 people per year over the period 2022–2024. This represents a fall of 11 per cent in the last decade alone.
One of the biggest success stories remains cervical cancer, where deaths have dropped by 75 percent over the last 50 years, largely thanks to the HPV vaccine.
Around 6.5 million people in Britain have already received this vaccine, which can prevent up to 90 percent of cervical cancer cases.
Significant decreases have also been noted for stomach cancer, testicular cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.
Even targeted drugs, such as abiraterone for prostate cancer and temozolomide for brain tumors, have helped many patients live longer.
But the rise in liver, uterine, and head and neck cancers is a stark reminder that progress is not happening equally in all areas.
Experts say delayed diagnosis remains a major problem, especially for aggressive cancers or those that are difficult to detect in their early stages. For this reason, prevention, early detection and better treatments remain more important than ever.
This warning comes at the same time as other reports showing that adults under 49 in Britain are now around 50 percent more likely to develop colon cancer than their peers were in the early 1990s.
One of the most well-known figures to be affected by the disease was presenter and activist Dame Deborah James, known as Bowel Babe, who was diagnosed at the age of 35 and died in 2022, at the age of 40.
Similar trends are being seen in the US, Australia and dozens of other countries, although rates of colon cancer in people over 50 appear to be falling. Obesity, lack of physical activity and alcohol consumption are known to increase the risk.
Cancer Research UK is already funding vaccines that aim to train the immune system to prevent other forms of cancer, alongside research into personalised treatments and immunotherapy, raising hopes for new breakthroughs in the next decade.
The charity is also calling on political leaders in Wales and Scotland to follow the ambition of the National Cancer Plan in England, in the hope that 2026 could mark a turning point for cancer care across the UK. /GazetaExpress/
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