Cancer is hitting the developing world hard, and Africa in particular. Although the disease has a reputation of being a condition that afflicts the rich, it is increasingly affecting the world's poor. New research published this past February by the American Cancer Society (ACS) shows that two-thirds of the 7.6 million cancer deaths recorded globally in 2008 occurred in low-income states. This number is expected to double by 2030.

Cancer patterns are different in Africa than elsewhere. Though shifts in diet and exercise habits are contributing to the continent's cancer rates, not every factor parrots the disease's trends internationally. For one, smoking is not a major culprit. Tobacco use is linked to 20 percent of cancer deaths worldwide, but according to ACS's report, it accounts for only 6 percent of cancer deaths in Africa. The health organization speculates that this could change down the road: In some African countries today, smoking rates are higher among boys than adults.

Afflicting the continent most are cancers that develop from infectious agents in the body – cervix, liver, Kaposi sarcoma and bladder cancer, to name a few. ACS's February report documents show the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world are found in Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. (The cancer is caused by HPV, the human papillomavirus, which is highly prevalent in East Africa.) Additionally, the report cites how 40 percent of bladder cancer diagnoses on the continent traces back to the parasite Schistosoma hematobium. In Europe and North America, bladder cancer is tied to smoking and/or exposure to industrial chemicals. Africa's Schistosoma hematobium is found in water-dwelling snails and burrows into human skin.

Cancer treatment resources are limited in Africa. The continent is home to less than 5 percent of the world's specialized healthcare workforce, according to the World Health Organization. Data from the International Atomic Energy Agency shows that 16 African countries have no radiation treatment centers, and an additional 13 report no data at all. And states that do have radiation centers run the risk of being overburdened, as is the case with Ethiopia's one lone center. It services a surrounding population of 80 million.

Unfortunately, an influx of technology may not be the panacea healthcare policymakers are searching for. Cancer diagnoses are made far too late for most African patients, according to AfrOx, a cancer foundation based in the United Kingdom. Preventative measures like early vaccination are also important, especially in the case of HPV-caused cervical cancer. Upping the number of well-trained healthcare workers in Africa is crucial. Partners in Health, the American non-profit organization that launched the world's first free program to address HIV in impoverished countries, is leading the way. This year, the organization begins a new initiative aimed at providing the same kind of service for cancer patients in Malawi and Rwanda.

Tech Bytes

➲ Looting of Egypt's Desert Research Center (DRC) in Cairo and at the Egyptian Deserts Gene Bank (EDGB) in North Sinai this past February during the country's political unrest destroyed gene databases. Laboratory cooling systems were also wrecked, leaving seed collections damaged and at risk. The EDGB housed 750 wild desert plant species, whose genetic material was filed nowhere else in the world. It is estimated it will take years to rebuild both its and DRC's databases.

➲ A team of Chinese researchers at the China Agricultural University in Beijing are experimenting with combining bird and swine flu to monitor the type of virus produced. Flu strains H9N2 and H1N1 are genetically closely related, and scientists have generated 127 virus hybrids to test in mice. More than half have been found to be just as strong as avian or swine flu individually; eight are more powerful and are considered strains of "superflu," according the team's findings.

➲ China's State Council has appointed a new president to head the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Bai Chunli, who has been CAS's executive vice president since 2004, is expected to helm the plan "Innovation 2020," which is fixated on China establishing an "innovation system of [its] own." The initiative includes projects in advanced nuclear fission, stem cell research, and carbon budget monitoring, among others. CAS's last president ran the academy for nearly 14 years.