Traditional Chinese medicine has some unique advantages in fighting against cancer.

Firstly, coordinating the body constitution to prevent tumorigenesis.

Secondly, enhancing the effect and reducing the toxicity of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Thirdly, improving the patients’ quality of life, ameliorating the symptoms and prolonging the survival period.

Therefore, in China, the integration of traditional Chinese medicine and Western treatment is a widely accepted.

There has been a marked increase in the number of cancer cases diagnosed in China in the past decades. Is it because of advanced diagnostic technology or a result of lifestyle choices? 

The main reason for such an increase is the growth of an aging population – those aged 60 and above – which increased from 11.6 percent in 2007 to 16.5 percent in 2015. Other factors that may have contributed to the increase in the incidence of cancer include unhealthy behaviors or cancer-related lifestyles such as chronic infections, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise etc.

Of course, improvement in cancer awareness, screening, detection services, and data completeness have also contributed to a greater number of cases. We published an article entitled “Cancer Statistics in China, 2015,” which offers a comprehensive analysis of cancer in China.

China has a long history of collaborating with other countries on cancer research and prevention. Since the 1980s, the Cancer Institute & Hospital and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CIHCAMS) have been collaborating with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States to carry out nutritional intervention studies on esophageal cancer in Linxian County, central China’s Henan Province. Through decades of effort, both the incidence of and mortality rate from esophageal cancer have significantly decreased in Linxian County. This experience has contributed a lot to the prevention of esophageal cancer in China and the rest of the world.

Since then, CIHCAMS continued to collaborate with NCI and other leading cancer institutes in the world, such as the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), French National Cancer Institute, Korea National Cancer Center, and Japan National Cancer Center on cancer registration and big data, controlling risk factors, screening, precision medicine, clinical trials, etc.

Through these collaborations, China increased the capacity in cancer prevention and control. Meanwhile, China has also contributed significant resources to the global fight against cancer as a result of its large population and prevalence of cancer. 

(Dai Min is MD and Ph.D. Director at the Department of International Communications of the National Cancer Center. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.)