Cancer Report Highlights need to Address Disparities in Treatment Outcomes

By Petrina Smith
Thursday, 18 December, 2014

Cancer Council Australia CEO Professor Ian Olver says the new cancer report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cancer in Australia 2014, highlights the urgent need to address disparities in treatment outcomes.

Professor Olver says while the report shows around 67 per cent of Australians diagnosed with cancer can expect to be alive in five years, the report also highlights the relatively slow progress in improving outcomes for specific population groups.

"For example, Indigenous Australians are far more likely to be diagnosed with cancers of the cervix, liver and lung than non-Indigenous Australians.

"To close that gap in the cancer burden, we need to reduce the impact of hepatitis infection on liver cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, help to ensure Indigenous women benefit more from the prevention and early detection of cervical cancer and do a lot more to cut smoking rates in Indigenous communities," he says.
Professor Olver added the report also highlighted the stark disadvantages faced by other population and patient groups, including people living in remote areas.
"The new data also emphasises the relative lack of progress in treating cancers such as pancreatic, brain and lung cancer. We need to increase our commitment to research if we are to find better treatments for these and other cancers."
He added more common cancers, including those that were easier to treat, caused significant morbidity and mortality, and extraordinary distress for patients and families.
"Ultimately, every one of the 124,000 Australians who was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 has had to face a life-changing challenge," he says. "If we support evidence-based interventions, patient outcomes will continue to improve. But the sheer numbers of patients, particularly in an ageing population, will require policy makers, community groups and individuals to work together in new ways to reduce the impact of cancer on Australians."
"Governments need to invest more in prevention to offset downstream costs elsewhere in the health system and explore new efficiencies in the funding and targeting of high-cost cancer drugs."