REGIONAL INITIATIVES
CANCER CONTROL 2014 133
Le-Ni Kang is a PhD candidate at the Cancer Hospital of the
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union
Medical College, Beijing, China. She works on cancer screening
and prevention in rural China, especially on the population
evaluation of new screening technologies.
Professor You-Lin Qiao is Director of the Department of Cancer
Epidemiology at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy
of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing,
China and Deputy Director of the National Expert Committee
for Cancer Screening and Prevention in China. He coordinates a
large number of cancer early detection studies in China and has
contributed to the development of validation for rapid,
accurate and affordable HPV tests for early detection of
cervical neoplasia. His research efforts have led to the rolling
out of large population-based breast and cervical screening
programmes in China. He received 2011 WHO/IARC
Medal of Honor.
Table 2: The primary results of cancer early detection and treatment projects in rural China (2012-2013)17
Cancer Types No of screenings Detection rate (%) Early detection rate† (%) Treatment rate (%)
Upper gastrointestinal cancer 189,329 1.6 72.4 84.6
Colorectal cancer 40,510 6.2 91.9 91.5
Liver cancer 14,964 0.7 55.6 91.7
Nasopharyngeal cancer 9,046 0.5 64.4 100.0
Lung cancer 4,845 1.4 45.6 75.0
Total 258,694 2.2 80.2 87.8
† Early detection rate = Number of early cases detected / Number of total cases detected *100%.
for nasopharyngeal cancer and 3 for lung cancer in rural
areas. From the latest Annual Report,17 the early detection
rate ranged from 45.6% for lung cancer to 91.9% for
colorectal cancer; and the treatment rate ranged from 75%
for lung cancer to 100% for nasopharyngeal cancer (Table 2).
In addition, this project also provided training for a group of
technicians and clinicians who work in primary health care
institutions. This project has been introduced into urban
areas in China from 2012 and targets screening for lung
cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, upper
gastrointestinal cancer and liver cancer.
With more than one fifth of the world's population, as well
as the increasing cancer burden in the contemporary Chinese
population, China's fight against cancer will have a global
impact on human health. The experience in cancer prevention
and control in China will also help other low- and middleincome countries, which account for 60% of the world cancer
burden, to fight against cancer. l
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