The Current Status of Cancer Control in China

Abstract

Background and context: With the rapid economic growth and aging population, China is now facing the challenge of cancer burden. China National Cancer Registry data displayed that >4 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2012, which accounted for 20% of global cancer incidence and 25% global cancer deaths occurred in China. Lung, gastrointestinal, breast cancers are the top 3 most common caused cancer diseases for Chinese people. Cancer brings huge economic loss both to Chinese economy and individuals. The total cancer cost has been raised 4 times more than in 2003, which was estimated to >400 billion Chinese Yuan. From 1970s, Chinese government attached importance to cancer control and conducted cancer prevention and control planning and strategy, but the medical resource allocation for cancer is still inequality in the country. Aim: China Anti-Cancer Association (CACA) investigates a research on how cancer control medical resource allocates in China and provides suggestion on cancer control policy development. Strategy/Tactics: Through collecting the data from 55 cancer hospitals across the country from 2013 to 2015 to analyze. Program/Policy process: The results show that oncology doctors and nurses slightly increase in consecutive 3 years, but the outpatient and inpatient visits grow in the average annual rate of 10%, the oncology professionals supply falls short of patient's demand. In terms of geography distribution, the cancer control medical resources are rich in municipality, capital cities and coastline cities. Northeast, southwest, and northwest part of China have weak medical resources to prevent and cure cancers. The oncology professional is constituted by clinical surgery, internal medical doctor, radiation therapist, and others. Clinical surgery is estimated to account for 40% of all professionals in cancer hospitals. The oncology professionals have higher education and academic background in third-grade class A hospitals. Inpatient and outpatient visits are much more in provincial cancer hospitals, rather than in prefectural-level cancer hospitals. Outcomes: Based on the research, CACA suggests that government should realize the importance of cancer control medical resource allocation, including increasing the number of oncology professionals, strengthening the professionals' academic training in secondary class A hospitals and prefectural-level cancer hospitals, and providing more financial investment to the parts where have insufficient medical resources. In addition, CACA advocates to taking the actions on tobacco control, HPV and HBV vaccine injection, changing healthy lifestyle, implementing the strategy of early detection, diagnose, and treatment, and formulating standardized and precision cancer treatment guideline, to ease the cancer burden so as to improve people's healthy life in China.