Awareness and high relative mortality rates in the asian pacific.

In the present issue of the journal, Yang et al (2004) point to the gravity of the cancer problem in the countries of East Asia, while Eftekhar and Yarandi (2004) and Ray and Mandal (2004) emphasize the need for more knowledge transfer and awareness of risk factors and symptoms of early cancer in the populations of Asia. In addition, Vahdaninia and Montazeri (2004) and Yeole and Kumar (2004) focus on cancer mortality, generally demonstrating lower survival rates than in the developed world. For comparison of what is happening in the various regions of the world it is useful to look at change in the major female cancers, occurring in the breast and uterine cervix, reported by cancer registries included in the Cancer Incidences in Five Continents series of IARC books for the last twenty-five years (Waterhouse et al., 1982; Muir et al., 1987; Parkin et al., 1992; 1997; 2002). Data for China (Shanghai), India (Mumbai), Japan (Miyagi) and Australia (New South Wales), in the Asian-Pacific, Colombia (Cali) in South America, and Denmark and Slovakia in Europe, are compared in Figures 1 and 2. The respective Globoscan 2000 data (Ferlay et al., 2001), accessed by Yang et al (2004) Table 1. Incidence and Mortality Rates for Breast Cancer in Selected Countries