Cancer prevention in the Asia Pacific region

Cancer incidences as well as the most prevalent cancer types vary greatly across Asian countries since people have differing health behaviors as well as lifestyle factors related to cancer risk. Countries have varying systems of government organization, laws, resources, facilities, and management strategies for addressing the cancer burden. Examples such as Korea and Japan with existing national cancer control programs need to focus on early screening and detection and quality of screening methods. If screening and detection increase to cover more than 50% of the target population, survival rate increases and thus the number of cancer patients detected increases resulting in higher medical cost. Thus, expansion of cancer screening, in addition to smoking prevention, immunization increase, and diet control awareness, are needed for cancer prevention strategies. Countries such as Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Turkey need to begin organized efforts to reduce cancer deaths through state-wide cancer screening programs. Strategies focused on increasing survival among cancer patients are also needed. In addition, government organizations and law regulations need to be in place as the first step towards cancer prevention. For the countries such as Nepal, Pakistan, Mongolia, and Iraq which do not have any cancer-related organizations in place, the first step that is needed is to raise public awareness about cancer; a public awareness campaign is the number one priority and should begin immediately. The easiest and most feasible step at this point is dissemination of cancer education materials during school health education and physical health screening. This must be started immediately because we need to avoid the development of existing cancers where patients will need to seek specialized cancer treatment facilities that are non-existent in these regions. In addition, hospitals need to take a step further and start undergoing registration of cancer prevalence and incidence cases beginning at the regional level. Through the hospital census, countries will be able to determine the magnitude of the cancer burden. Moreover, countries with professionals and researchers with advanced cancer research, education, and training also need to contribute through international cooperation.