Guide to Cancer Early Diagnosis

Guide to cancer early diagnosis. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0IGO

Detecting cancer early can effectively reduce the mortality associated with cancer. In resource-poor settings, cancer is often diagnosed at a late-stage of disease resulting in lower survival and potentially greater morbidity and higher costs of treatment. Even in countries with strong health systems and services, many cancer cases are diagnosed at a late-stage. Addressing delays in cancer diagnosis and inaccessible treatment is therefore critical in all settings for cancer control.

Early diagnosis strategies improve cancer outcomes by providing care at the earliest possible stage and are therefore an important public health strategy in all settings. The barriers that delay cancer diagnosis must first be identified and assessed, and these factors may originate from patients to carers to health systems. Effective programmes can then be implemented at various levels that include community engagement to address patient behaviour, improving diagnostic and referral capacity and ensuring access to timely, high-quality treatment.

This WHO Guide to cancer early diagnosis aims to help policy-makers and programme managers facilitate timely diagnosis and improve access to cancer treatment for all.

Disponível Em: <https://www.who.int/>