Breast cancer in Asia

The Economist Intelligence Unit To view the full report and understand how Asian countries are responding to the challenge of breast cancer, click here. © The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2016. BREAST CANCER IN ASIA The challenge and response Once largely confined to Western countries and Australasia, breast canceris now a major healthcare issue across Asia-Pacific. Already it is the most common form of cancer for women in nine of the ten Asia-Pacific jurisdictions covered in Breast cancer in Asia: The challenge and response, an Economist Intelligence Unit study commissioned by Pfizer. 22.1 China 51.5 Jаpan 52.1 25.8 India South Korea 61.2 Hong Kong 64.3 WHERE BREAST CANCER IS MOST СOMMON 29.3 Thailand Taiwan 38.7 Malaysia 65.7 Singapore Incidence per 100,000 There is substantial variation in the incidence of breast cancer between countries in the region. The age-standardised rate (ASR) of incidence in China, for example, is about one-quarter that in Australia. Based on recent trends, however, the burden of breast cancer looks set to grow, as lifestyles change and especially as populations age. 86.0 Australia WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS Breast cancer on the rise Percentage increase in estimated number of breast cancer cases between 2012 and 2025 T I I I I 37% Singapore 4% 12% 19% 22% 26% 34% 49% Jаpan South Korea Thailand China Australia India Malaysia WHERE BREAST CANCER IS DEADLIEST If caught early, breast cancer is largely treatable. In well-off countries in the region, the five-year survival rate (the percentage of people who are alive five years after diagnosis) is typically between around 80% and 92%, with five countries having figures roughly comparable to that in the United States. But data indicate that progress against the disease is highly uneven in the region, with five-year survival rates in developing countries such as Thailand, India and Malaysia far behind their developed country counterparts. Moreover, national figures mask huge disparities within countries, notably between urban and rural areas. Mortality ratio:Incidence ratio figures (which show the number of deaths as a percentage of incidence) must be viewed with caution in some cases, due to incomplete data. In China, for example, though collection of incidence information has improved, cancer registries rely on the country's death statistics system, which Globocan describes as incomplete. Mortality rates may well be under-estimated and, given the magnitude of the numbers involved, even a small increase would raise the MR:IR ratio quickly. Five-year survival rates 92% South Korea Hong Kong 90% 89% Australia 89% Jаpan 87% 80% Singapore Taiwan 73% China 63% 89% US five-year survival rate Thailand 52% Lowest rate of 49% Malaysia five-year survival India 0.30% MR:IR MR:IR world average 0.49 0.49 Malaysia India Highest rate of MR:IR 0.38 Thailand 0.24 Singapore 0.24 China 0.19 Jаpan 0.18 0.16 Hong Kong 0.16 Australia Taiwan 0.12 South Korea HOW PREPARED ARE COUNTRIES TO RESPOND? Success against breast cancer requires health systems to engage in a wide range of activities simultaneously. These include data gathering; awareness-raising; establishing the facilities to encourage and engage in early diagnosis; providing multi-disciplinary treatment which prov ides a co-ordinated range of interventions depending on individual circumstances; ensuring long-term care and support for those who have been through primary treatment; and providing palliative care for women who are dy ing from the disease. To get a better view of how countries in the region are addressing this disease, The EIU has produced a detailed scorecard which considers policy around all these aspects of breast cancer control. Countries were ranked on their aggregate score across six areas of breast cancer policy deemed to be most important. Each category was scored from 0, for very weak, to 8, for very strong. Overall Country Score 48 Australia 8 8 8 8 45 Taiwan 8 6 8 44 Hong Kong 8 8. 7 7 43 Japan 8 8 8 7 6 43 Singapore 8 7 8 41 South Korea 8 8 7 6. 6 27 Malaysia 8 5 4 2 4 4 24 Thailand 3 7 4 4 10 China 4 2 1 1 Note: Country figures in: J Ferlay et al., Globocan 2012 v1.0: Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide, 2013 http://globocan.iarc.fr 8 India 3 0 1 0 2 2 Sponsored by Sources: Where breast cancer is most common: Globocan What the future holds: EIU calaulations based on data from Globocan and United Nations World Population Prospe cts Where breast cancer is deadltest: National cancerregistries, EIU calaulations Pfizer 00 Awareness raising 00 Early detection 00 Treatment quality & access uo ddns JOAJAJDS UJan-Buon co 00 Palliative a 00 Data collection