Cancer in Australia
Cancer is the greatest cause of health burden in Australia1 and despite much progress, remains a pressing health care challenge. One person is diagnosed with cancer approximately every 4 minutes2 and the number of new cancer cases increases year on year.
People diagnosed with cancer in Australia, have among the highest cancer survival rates in the world and research continues to inform advances in prevention, earlier diagnosis, effectiveness of treatments and improvements in the delivery of optimal care. However ongoing challenges include disparity in the distribution of cancer, its impact, and significant variations in outcomes across population and tumour groups.
High-quality cancer data will contribute to improvements
Population-based national cancer data is critical to our understanding of the impact of cancer in Australia and informing our efforts in effectively addressing the burden of cancer.
Quality national data forms the bridge between information and outcomes.
Cancer Australia’s National Cancer Control Indicators (NCCI) website, is Australia’s first interactive website representing a significant advance in how population‑based cancer data in Australia is consolidated and presented across the continuum from Prevention and Screening through to Diagnosis, Treatment, Psychosocial care, Research and Outcomes.
NCCI is a unique dynamic national resource enabling users to see interconnections and relationships across cancer control, to monitor trends and benchmark internationally.
This will enhance understanding, stimulate enquiry and inform future directions in cancer control, whether in research, policy or clinical care.
However, people affected by cancer as well as the broader community can also use the website with the assurance that it is a trustworthy, authoritative source of population-based data contributing to the national effort to improve cancer outcomes.
NCCI allows users to choose the type and depth of information of interest to them, and to see visual representations of data on each indicator through interactive charts. Data can also be filtered by tumour type and by category, such as population group, gender, age, and socio‑economic status.
In developing NCCI Cancer Australia has involved, and will continue to collaborate with Australia’s key national cancer data custodians, including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Government Department of Health.
NCCI is designed to be responsive and will be continuously updated as new data becomes available and importantly, to incorporate new sources of national data over time.
It’s an important and exciting step forward for cancer control in Australia and one which Cancer Australia has been pleased to lead.
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1. Cancer Australia Media release 14 June 2017 “Cancer biggest burden on Australia’s health”
2. Cancer Australia News Announcement 3 February 2017 “Cancer in Australia 2017”