China promotes early detection, treatment to fight tumors

BEIJING -- Despite being just over 30 years old, Wang Yanmei (pseudonym) undergoes cancer tests every year.

Wang, a resident of Taiyuan City in north China's Shanxi Province, has a rare family history of tumors.

Her father died of lung cancer. Her eldest brother and elder brother succumbed to gastric cancer and lung cancer, respectively. And her mother is battling with cervical cancer.

"Considering the significant risks Wang faces for developing tumors, we advised her to undergo tumor screening annually," said Guan Xuemei, deputy director of the examination center at the Shanxi Cancer Hospital.

China is striving to raise the overall five-year survival rate for cancer patients to 46.6 percent by 2030. Health experts said that enhancing tumor screening to initiate diagnosis and treatment as early as possible would be effective in achieving the goal.

According to the World Health Organization, a third of cancer cases are preventable, and the same proportion of cancer cases can be successfully treated through earlier detection and treatment.

As of now, China has nearly completed building a comprehensive, tiered network for cancer prevention and treatment. Particularly noteworthy is that screening for breast and cervical cancers has been expanded to over 90 percent of districts and counties.

By 2022, the five-year cancer survival rate had climbed to 43.7 percent from 40.5 percent in 2015 in China, according to the National Health Commission.

Continuous monitoring by the National Cancer Center (NCC) from 2000 through 2018 has revealed an average annual decrease of 1.3 percent in the age-standardized mortality rate from malignant tumors in the country.

This indicates notable progress in tumor prevention and control in recent years, said NCC experts.

The NCC estimated that China added 4.82 million cases of malignant tumors in 2022, with lung, colorectal, thyroid, liver and gastric cancers accounting for the most incidence cases.

Experts attributed the slight increase in the figure compared with previous years to more active participation by the Chinese population in tumor check-ups and state cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment programs, in addition to the aging of the population.

According to a national cancer prevention and control action plan through 2030, China will promote early diagnosis and treatment for cancers and strengthen its long-term screening mechanism.

Led by the NCC, authorities have worked out a screening, early diagnosis and treatment guide for seven common cancers in China, said Zhang Yong, an NCC official. By 2022, the early diagnosis rate of major cancers in their most prevalent regions had exceeded 55 percent.

Localities will further promote screening across demographics for cancers that are more prevalent in their regions, are cost-effective with early treatment, and have readily available, easy screening methods.

Efforts will also be made to raise public awareness for cancer prevention and encourage them to undergo cancer screening, Zhang said.