By Susan Brink

The number of new cancer cases grew worldwide to 17.5 million in 2015 from 13.1 million in 2005. The fastest growth is in some of the world's poorest countries, according to a report on the global burden of cancer in the December 3 journal JAMA Oncology.

"Cancer is increasingly important in countries where the main disease burden has always been infectious diseases," says Dr. Christina Fitzmaurice, an author of the report and Assistant Professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Division of Hematology at the University of Washington.

NPR's Goats and Soda blog interviewed Dr. Fitzmaurice, author of the report published in JAMA Oncology, to learn why different cancers are becoming more prevalent in certain countries. 

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