UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Reuters) - World bodies like the United Nations and World Health Organization need to develop a coordinated strategy to confront the rising cancer risk in poor countries, an international expert said on Tuesday.

The incidence of cancer, once considered a disease of the developed world, has increased in poorer countries and global policymakers are not keeping pace with the challenge, said Peter Boyle, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

When the agency was founded in 1965, cancer was considered a disease that afflicted wealthy nations. That changed with the growth and aging of the population in poorer countries, which also imported more risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol abuse, obesity and the lack of physical activity, Boyle said.

Boyle's agency, part of the World Health Organization, estimates cancer cases will double from 2000 to 2030, with a majority of cases occurring in low- to medium-resource countries.

"The cancer control community worldwide has suffered from being very diverse, loose and uncoordinated, and it certainly could do with a lot of leadership and an overall coordinated strategy," Boyle told a news conference at United Nations.

"That should come from organizations which are in place to do that."

In Africa, the most common type of cancer among men is Kaposi's sarcoma, which is linked to the HIV and AIDS epidemic, Boyle said.

In the United States, a vaccine being developed for cervical cancer costs $350, but in Europe it is twice as expensive, he said.

The greatest need for the vaccine is in poor countries, and developing the treatment at affordable prices "is a question which is beyond us, beyond NGOs, beyond even our organization. That needs to be done at the very, very highest level," Boyle said.

REUTERS