World cancer leaders say the disease is no longer the death sentence it once was and have gathered in Melbourne to urge countries to refocus the global response.
The four-day World Cancer Congress is held every two years and brings together cancer control professionals from across the globe.
Dr Etienne Krug from the World Health Organisation said the focus of the Melbourne congress, which opened today, was prevention, detection and treatment.
“Cancer is a huge issue in the world. Eight million people are dying every year from cancer. That’s more than malaria, HIV, TB (tuberculosis), road traffic deaths and violence combined,” he said.
He said cancer was being under-addressed across the world, especially in lower income countries.
“What we hope to achieve by bringing all these cancer leaders together is strengthen the movement to send the message that cancer is not anymore a death sentence,” Dr Krug said.
“We do know a lot about preventing cancer, and we know a lot about improving detection, early treatment and longer term treatment of cancer.
“We need to make the case that cancer is preventable, cancer is treatable, and it is cost-effective.”
Dr Krug said rich countries had made a lot of progress in addressing cancer; developing strategies to reduce smoking, targeting obesity, and increasing physical activity.
He said patients in richer countries also had access to radiotherapy and chemotherapy for treatment, which is not always the case in the developing world.
“In the lower income countries, the situation is totally different. Only a quarter of countries have access to radiotherapy or chemotherapy.”
Australian cancer outcomes a ‘lottery’
Professor Sanchia Aranda from the Union for International Cancer Control said Australia had some of the best cancer outcomes in the world and ranks in the top four in terms of cancer survival.
“However, the interesting thing about that is it’s a little bit of a lottery in terms of who has the good outcome,” she said.
“We know that cancer outcomes in Australia are worse if you’re of low socio-economic status, if you live in rural and remote parts of Australia, and in particular if you’re an Aboriginal Australian.”
Professor Aranda said the five-year survival rate was 65 per cent in Australia, but there was a difference of 10 percentage points between the most and the least disadvantaged Australians.
“That worsens even more when you look at indigenous Australians whose five-year survival rate from cancer is only 40 per cent, against a national average of 66,” she said.
“I often think this is our national shame, that we need to do much more, and that many of these outcomes are as poor as many of the poorest countries in our region.”
She said funding needed to be targeted at disadvantaged groups, to ensure they had the same access to services.
“Disadvantage is something that all of us need to be looking at,” Professor Aranda said.
“But if you don’t look at the data in terms of who is missing out on access to services, early diagnosis, access to treatment … then you don’t understand the disadvantage that’s really under your nose.”