National cancer plans and strategies
Over the past two decades government and non-government agencies and groups in Australia have developed several plans and strategies for improving cancer control nationally.
The key plans and reports are listed below, from the most recent back to the first major reports that acknowledged cancer control as a priority in the late 1980s. These are primarily strategic approaches to cancer control, for all cancers, at the national level, but we have included some documents that are not solely about cancer control or that are focussed on one type of cancer or aspect of cancer care.
We also provide links here to reports of two important inquiries into cancer care conducted by the Senate Community Affairs Committee in recent years, which have shaped cancer control planning in Australia.
National cancer prevention/control plans and strategies
National Cancer Prevention Policy (2007–09) (2007)
The National Cancer Prevention Policy 2007-09 was published by The Cancer Council Australia (TCCA). It is the latest in a series of prevention policies that have been produced by TCCA since 1987.
The policy advocates for a concerted and comprehensive national approach to the prevention of cancer and offers recommendations on how Australia can reduce the number of new cases of cancer diagnosed each year.
The policy outlines a strategic approach to reducing preventable risk factors and discusses areas where population screening may be an effective approach to reducing the burden of disease.
Breaking the silence: a national voice for gynaecological cancers (2006)
In 2006 the Senate Community Affairs Committee conducted an inquiry into gynaecological cancers in Australia. This is the report of the Inquiry, published in October 2006, including 34 recommendations to lessen the impact of gynaecological cancers.
National Service Improvement Framework for Cancer (2006)
The Framework outlines opportunities for improving cancer prevention and care. It supports the National Chronic Disease Strategy (see below). It is intended to outline what all Australians with, or at risk of, cancer should expect to receive through the Australian health care system, irrespective of where they live.
National Chronic Disease Strategy (2006)
The National Chronic Disease Strategy provides an overarching framework of national direction for improving chronic disease prevention and care across Australia. It is a nationally agreed agenda to encourage coordinated action in response to the growing impact of chronic disease on the health of Australians and the health care system.
It is supported by five National Service Improvement Frameworks, including one for cancer (see above).
The cancer journey: Informing choice (2005)
This is the report of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee’s 2005 inquiry into services and treatment options for people affected by cancer. In this report the Committee examines key areas of multidisciplinary care and integrated service delivery, and the use of complementary and alternative treatments. The report outlines ways in which Australia can continue to optimise choice and improve outcomes for people affected by cancer as they travel their cancer journey.
Health system expenditures on cancer and other neoplasms in Australia 2000-01 (2005)
The first comprehensive study of cancer health system expenditures in Australia covered the year 1993-94 and was released in 1998. This report updates the expenditure estimates to 2000-01.
Optimising Cancer Care in Australia (2003) (PDF 2,996 kB)
Optimising Cancer Care in Australia is a consultative report prepared in 2003 by the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, The Cancer Council Australia and the National Cancer Control Initiative outlining key reforms required to ensure optimal treatment of people with cancer.
Priorities for action in cancer control 2001–2003 (2001)
The National Cancer Strategies Group (CSG) was a sub-committee of the National Health Priority Action Council, established in mid-1998 to develop a National Cancer Control Plan based on the National Cancer Control Initiative's priority-setting process (see below).
This report by the CSG identified 13 interventions as priorities for action in cancer control, to address areas where there was good evidence that action was needed, supported by evidence of effectiveness in meeting that need.
Cancer control towards 2002: The first stage of a national coordinated plan for cancer control (1998)
This report was produced by the National Cancer Control Initiative (NCCI). It identified a set of consensus-based priorities for cancer control, spanning the areas of primary prevention, population-based screening and early detection, and treatment. The proposed actions were the basis of the work plan for the NCCI in the subsequent four years.
Not available electronically
National Health Priority Area: Cancer Control 1997 (1998)
This report on cancer control was one of a series of biennial reports to Health Ministers on each of the five National Health Priority Areas (NHPA). The NHPA process had identified specific cancers that were of major concern in all states and territories, and where significant gains could be achieved through prevention and control: cancers of the lung, skin, cervix, breast, colon and rectum, and prostate.
First report on National Health Priority Areas (1997)
This report provides detail of national collaborative action in dealing with the four initial national health priority areas: cardiovascular health, cancer control, injury prevention and control, and mental health. It provides a summary of the status of the nation’s health in terms of these four initial priority areas, and outlines gaps in our understanding of the impact of the conditions on the community at the time of publication.
Better health outcomes for Australians (1994)
In 1994 a joint Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) / National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) working group was established to identify health focus areas for national action. Cancer was one of the initial four health focus areas selected.
This report outlined targets and strategies to improve cancer control from prevention to palliative care. In addition to general targets, there were specific goals for ‘priority cancers’: breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, colon and rectal cancers, melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer and prostate cancer.
Not available electronically
Goals and targets for Australia’s health in the year 2000 and beyond (1993)
This report reviewed the progress of the goals and targets published in Health for All Australians report (see below), established a framework for setting goals and targets, proposed a new set of goals and targets, and provided options of how the new goals and targets could be achieved in the health system and other sectors.
Not available electronically
Health for All Australians (1988)
In 1987 the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council (AHMAC) established the Health Targets and Implementation (Health for All) Committee to develop national health goals and targets to reduce inequalities in health status.
The Health for All Australians report recommended nine goals and 15 targets relating to the five most common cancers at the time, and to tobacco smoking.
Not available electronically
Cancer epidemiology reports (incidence, mortality, prevalence, survival)
Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2006 (2007)
This is the latest report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australian Association of Cancer Registries. It presents an analysis of cancer incidence and mortality in 2003 with trends from 1983 to 2003.
Cancer Incidence Projections for Australia 2002-2011 (2005)
This report presents detailed projections of cancer incidence for major cancers. The report provides projections of both incidence rates and expected numbers of new cases by age and sex for 60 cancers and groups of cancers.
Cancer Survival in Australia, 2001 (2004)
Cancer in Australia 2001 presents comprehensive national data on cancer incidence and mortality, and summary data on cancer screening, the cancer workforce and cancer expenditure in Australia. The report provides 2001 data for cancers by site, age and sex, and summary data for each state and territory.
Cancer, Health Services and Indigenous Australians (2004)
This is one of seven reports that were commissioned as part of a review of the Australian Government's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Program.
Cancer costs in Australia – The potential impact of dietary change (2002)
This report provides estimates for the direct health care costs of colorectal, breast, lung and prostate cancers attributable to selected dietary factors.
Cancer screening reports
Cervical screening in Australia 2005-2006 (2008)
This is the tenth annual report on key program activity, performance and outcome indicators to monitor the achievements of the National Cervical Screening Program. It provides a comprehensive national picture of cervical screening in Australia for 2005-2006 including information on participation in cervical screening, rate of early re-screening, low-grade and high-grade abnormalities detected, incidence of cervical cancer and mortality rates.
BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2004-2005 (2008)
This is the ninth annual report based on key program activity, performance and outcome indicators to monitor the achievements of the BreastScreen Australia program. It presents the most recent national information on participation in breast screening, cancer detection, program sensitivity, recall to assessment and rescreening rates.
National Bowel Cancer Screening Program Monitoring Report 2007
This is the first annual report of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, which aims to reduce mortality and morbidity from bowel cancer by maximising early detection, as bowel cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in Australia. The report is based on key program activity, performance and outcome indicators to monitor the achievements of the program. It presents the most recent information on participation in bowel screening, cancer detection, program sensitivity and rescreening rates as well as national bowel cancer incidence and mortality data to provide a context for these indicators of screening activity.