乌鸦传媒

The WHO Western Pacific Region (WPR) is home to 37 countries/areas and 1.9 billion people. It is economically, culturally, and linguistically diverse, containing some of the world's most populous countries such as China, to some of the least, such as Niue and Tuvalu. Its health systems must serve populations facing the impacts of climate change, from vast geographic areas to tiny island territories, as well as those with a history of colonization. These factors all pose challenges to the equitable provision of health services, including cancer screening.

This article describes the challenges of implementing lung cancer screening (LCS) in the WPR, outlining lessons learned from international trials and existing real-world programs, as well as successful strategies used in other cancer screening programs.

To enable equitable implementation of LCS, strategies used in other clinical settings need to be tested across the WPR to address a lack of evidence. This includes adapting the strategies used in the six countries and two special administrative regions in the WPR that have experience of implementing LCS programs.

The review considers broader issues of health equity, other public health priorities, and lessons learned from other cancer screening programs. We highlight the need for greater global advocacy to ensure that, if implemented, LCS is beneficial and not a driver of health inequities.

Read a Q&A related to the study here.