Public health and medical experts, academics and patients support groups yesterday formed an advocacy platform aimed at doubling the five-year survival rate for lung cancer.
Lung cancer has been the leading cause of death from cancer for 12 consecutive years in Taiwan, with the number of deaths posting a new record of 9,701 last year.
As a prelude to World Lung Cancer Day on Saturday, cancer prevention groups invited several public health and medical experts to discuss how to increase the survival rate of lung cancer patients, and to achieve the shared goal of the Global Lung Cancer Coalition and the Lung Ambition Alliance to double the five-year survival rate by 2025.
Formosa Cancer Foundation chief executive Lai Gi-ming (賴基銘) told the gathering in Taipei that the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is only about 29.79 percent, ranking at the bottom of the list of the top 10 leading causes of cancer deaths in the nation.
The number of lung cancer deaths this year is predicted to be more than 10,000, Lai said.
“The current lung cancer five-year survival rate is approximately 30 percent, which is already double [the figure] about a decade ago,” he said.
“We are aiming to reach about 60 percent by 2025, which would be near the five-year survival rate of all cancers combined,” he said.
Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), an epidemiologist, public health expert, and former minister of health, said that the number of smokers in Taiwan has dropped by 40 percent, but the incidence of lung cancer is still growing, which implies that air pollution is a growing threat.
The central and local governments, as well as private firms, should be held responsible for air pollution, so a cross-ministerial task force for lung cancer prevention should be established to deal with the problem, he said.
The government should set an action plan for increasing the survival rate, and prepare a specialized budget apart from the National Health Insurance fund for early screening, detection and treatment, as well as new medication, said Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), dean of National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health.
There are usually no symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, and low dose spiral computed tomography is currently the most effective screening method for detecting it, former university president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) said.
Medical experts should reach a consensus and establish standard guidelines for local lung cancer screening and early treatment, Yang said.
The Formosa Cancer Foundation advises people to follow the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, avoid smoking or chewing betel nuts and get regular screening for cancer, foundation vice president Jacqueline Whang Peng (彭汪嘉康) said.
Experts agree that three levels of prevention measures must be enhanced to increase the survival rate: primary prevention — avoiding carcinogens and unhealthy lifestyle habits or diet; secondary prevention — early screening, detection and treatment; and tertiary prevention — precision treatment and preventing recurrence, Lai said.
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