Cancer Control Opportunities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Excerpt

The National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society—two organizations that have recognized the need to raise awareness about and take action against cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMCs)—asked the Institute of Medicine to conduct this study and provided the funding for it. The report calls for governments, health professionals, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and others in LMCs, with the help of the global health community, to achieve a better understanding of the current and future burden of cancer in LMCs and to take appropriate and feasible next steps in cancer control. Steps taken now—particularly in prevention—will be rewarded by curbing the growth in cancer rates. Steps taken toward establishing effective cancer diagnosis and treatment (i.e., cancer management), even if modest, can act as a nucleus from which development can grow.