Measuring the societal burden of cancer: a case of lost productivity in Nepal
The global patterns of cancer incidences and mortality rates are slowly shifting towards low- and middle-income countries. Through our article, we highlight the societal cost associated with premature mortality and morbidity of cancer in Nepal. The monetary loss is indicative of the severity of the issue and it serves to motivate the policymakers realize the urgency in devising appropriate cancer control strategies. The study design is a cross-sectional study using the GLOBOCAN 2012 data. Using the human capital approach, we measure the number of years of life lost (YLL) and the number of years of productive life lost (YPLL) due to cancer in Nepal. We found that following diagnosis, a Nepali patient with cancer is likely to lose out on 19.64 years of their life; the average number of YLL is higher for females (22.2 years vs 16.8 years in males). After adjusting for labor force participation rate and predicted growth rate of the economy, we found that cancer led to a total productivity loss of $149 million (males) and $121 million (females) in 2012. The burden of the top five cancers accounted for almost half of the total productivity loss in both the genders. Cervical and lung cancer incur the maximum cost to society, respectively, for females and males. The article highlighted the severity of the cancer issue and emphasized the urgency needed in devising cancer control policies in Nepal.