WHO report places Ethiopia among countries with highest maternal-cancer orphanhood
Ethiopia is among six countries accounting for about 40 percent of children worldwide who lost their mothers to cancer, according to findings cited from the WHO’s 2026 global cancer report.
Ethiopia is among the six countries with the largest numbers of children who have lost their mothers to cancer, according to findings from the World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Cancer 2026 reported by The Reporter Ethiopia on July 25, 2026.
The report says India, China, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Pakistan together accounted for about 40 percent of children worldwide orphaned by maternal cancer. Globally, cancer deaths among women in 2020 left more than one million children newly without their mothers, with 35 percent of those children in Africa.
Breast and cervical cancers were the leading causes of maternal cancer orphanhood. About one quarter of affected children lost their mothers to breast cancer, while roughly one fifth did so because of cervical cancer.
The findings carry particular significance for Ethiopia, where GLOBOCAN estimates cited by The Reporter recorded 79,239 new cancer cases in 2024, including 52,362 among women. Breast cancer represented 36 percent of female cancer cases and cervical cancer 15.6 percent. An estimated 46,841 people died from cancer in Ethiopia that year.
The WHO report describes cancer’s effects as intergenerational. Children who lose a parent to the disease can face emotional trauma, disrupted schooling, financial hardship, malnutrition and reduced social support, extending the burden beyond patients and caregivers.
The global report estimated 20.6 million new cancer diagnoses and nearly 10 million cancer deaths in 2024. It projected the worldwide economic cost of cancer at more than $33.2 trillion between 2020 and 2050.
