Eliminating childhood lead toxicity in Australia: a call to lower the intervention level.

493 MJA 197 (9) · 5 November 2012 now estimated to affect around 400000 people, or 2% of the population.3 Liver cancer survival remains among the lowest of all cancers, with only 16% of people still alive 5 years after diagnosis. By 2007, liver cancer had become the 11th most common cause of cancer death of Australians.1 For the first time, the new AIHW report indicates that primary liver cancer is the fastest increasing cause of cancer mortality in this country.1 The annual number of new cases of liver cancer recorded in Australian cancer registries almost tripled between 1982 and 2007 (from 1.8 to 5.2 cases per 100000 population), and no other cancer has had a larger increase in mortality, with the number of Australians dying from liver cancer doubling during the same period. With most primary liver cancer attributable to chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and increasing evidence of the efficacy of antiviral therapy for viral hepatitis in preventing cancer,3,4 it is a universally recognised public health priority to scale up access to these treatments.5,6 However, less than 3% of people living with viral hepatitis are receiving treatment, reflecting low levels of community and clinical awareness of this issue.3 Unless this is urgently addressed, we will see the fastest increasing cause of cancer death of Australians continue to accelerate.