Authorities to compile first cancer atlas: guideline

Garbage piles up on the bank of a polluted feeder of the Shaying River, the biggest distributary of the Huaihe River, in Shenqiu, Henan province. Residents of several villages along the Shaying River have been ravaged by cancer as a result of water pollution. (Photo: China Daily/Sun Junbin)

(ECNS) -- Chinese authorities will compile a cancer atlas for the first time and lower the price of cancer drugs, according to a newly released guideline.

The three-year guideline to fight cancer (2015-2017), released on the National Health and Family Planning Commission's website, asks local governments to expand registrations of tumor patients, strengthen information collection, and compile a national cancer map.

The guideline promises to lower anti-cancer drug prices by supporting innovation and generic drug production.

It also demands control of carcinogenic factors such as tobacco, as well as boosting vaccinations and improving regulation of environmental and occupational hazards.

The guideline sets four targets: more than 30 percent of the population should be registered; the awareness rate of cancer should reach 60 percent; the prevalence of smoking among adults should decrease by three percent; and early diagnosis of cancers in key areas should reach 50 percent.

The incidence rate of cancer was 235 out of 100,000 people in 2013, according to the national tumor registration, and is on the rise. The death rate of cancer was 144.3 out of 100,000 people, and cancer resulted in 23.5 percent of all deaths, it was added.

It also said that lung cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer among Chinese men, and breast cancer among women.

A map showing the most prevalent types of cancer by province in China went viral on the Internet last year, but health experts said that it was fake.