Qatar Cancer Plan 2023 - 2026

Objectives

The Qatar Cancer Plan 2023–2026 seeks to deliver “Excellence for All” through an integrated, patient- and family-centred cancer system spanning prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, palliative care, holistic support, childhood cancer, surveillance, research and strategic enablers. It builds on earlier national cancer strategies and frameworks, aiming to provide high-quality, accessible, equitable and coordinated care across the full patient pathway.[1][2][3]

• Reduce cancer risk through tobacco control, healthy diets, physical activity, vaccination, action on environmental and occupational carcinogens, culturally appropriate education, and reduction of cancer myths and stigma.[4][5][6]
• Improve early detection through established breast and bowel screening, opportunistic cervical screening, urgent referral pathways, improved screening quality and access, and feasibility studies for cervical, prostate, lung and thyroid screening programmes.[7][8][9]
• Deliver multidisciplinary, evidence-based and timely treatment, supported by specialised diagnostic services, advanced therapies, precision medicine, palliative care, survivorship services and Patient Pathway Coordinators.[10][11][12]
• Develop a comprehensive cancer centre to bring together care modalities, translational research, advanced technology and integrated holistic support, while expanding domestic capacity and reducing reliance on treatment abroad.[13][14][15]
• Provide holistic support that addresses physical, psychological, social, spiritual, emotional and financial wellbeing for patients, survivors, families and carers throughout diagnosis, treatment, transition and end-of-life care.[16][17][18]
• Strengthen childhood cancer services through prompt diagnosis, evidence-based treatment, supportive care, smooth transition to adult services, paediatric stem cell transplantation, precision medicine, clinical trials and development towards regional and international excellence.[19][20][21]
• Enhance surveillance, research and innovation through coordinated national data systems, translational research, clinical trials, cancer registries, research prioritisation and international collaboration.[22][23][24]
• Build the workforce, infrastructure and digital capability required for sustainable cancer services, including specialist staffing, succession planning, integrated health-information systems and cancer-specific data management.[25][26]

Implementation

Implementation uses a whole-system, multi-year model led by the Ministry of Public Health and the National Cancer Governance Board, working with Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, Sidra Medicine, research institutions, private and voluntary-sector partners, patient-facing organisations and international advisers. The plan comprises 87 time-bound deliverables under 23 strategic objectives, with operational responsibility assigned to relevant organisations and implementation supported by governance, workforce, digital and infrastructure development.[2][24][27]

• Coordinate governance through the National Cancer Governance Board, with the Qatar Cancer Plan Steering Committee setting strategic priorities, activities and key performance indicators under the Board’s authority; the Ministry of Public Health Cancer Programme coordinates plan development and delivery.[3][24]
• Use collaborative planning across health and non-health sectors, reflecting the role of public health, primary care, specialist hospitals, community services, academic partners, non-governmental organisations and international bodies including the World Health Organization.[28][29][30]
• Deliver prevention through national campaigns, smoking-cessation services, tobacco-control enforcement, smoke-free policies, dietary and physical-activity measures, vaccination initiatives, multilingual communications, peer education and targeted interventions for underserved populations.[31][32][5]
• Operate screening through Primary Health Care Corporation centres, mobile provision, call-centre invitations and follow-up, screening registries, quality frameworks and rapid referral to Hamad Medical Corporation; planned improvements include teleradiology, postal bowel testing, telephone consultations and artificial intelligence-assisted mammography.[7][8][9]
• Organise clinical care through cancer-site-specific multidisciplinary teams, specialised clinics, electronic referral, clinical guidelines, international peer review, advanced diagnostics, pharmacy integration and tailored pathways for complex and rare tumours.[11][12]
• Integrate hospital, primary, community and home-based support through survivorship programmes, palliative home care, transition arrangements, quality-of-life services, care plans, family and carer support, and a proposed national holistic-support governing entity.[14][17][18]
• Establish research and data infrastructure through the Qatar Cancer Information Center, integrating the Qatar National Cancer Registry, Cancer Screening Registry and Cancer Waiting Times Registry; establish a Cancer Research Office and National Research Group to coordinate research and investment.[22]
• Require implementation plans for each deliverable to include milestones, budget and workforce requirements, monitoring arrangements, risks and issues; funding is recognised as necessary, but no overall monetary budget or financing envelope is specified.[27]
• Monitor delivery through quarterly progress reports from lead organisations to the National Cancer Governance Board, quarterly review of key performance indicators, annual Board reporting to the Public Health Committee, and a planned mid-term review in early 2025.[27]
• Support accountability through measurable and time-bound deliverables, quarterly Board monitoring, screening audits, registry and performance-reporting systems, patient-experience feedback, workforce reviews and periodic refinement of indicators as services and technologies change.[33][8][26]

Monitoring & Evaluation

The Qatar Cancer Plan 2023–2026 establishes a governance-led monitoring system intended to manage 87 measurable deliverables across 23 strategic objectives.[2]It combines quarterly implementation oversight, key performance indicators, data registries, service-level quality assurance and a planned mid-term review, although detailed indicator definitions and reporting products are not consistently specified across all chapters.[3][27]

• Monitor plan deliverables quarterly through the National Cancer Governance Board, using tangible, time-bound and objectively assessable endpoints.[3][33]
• Require lead organisations to submit quarterly progress reports to the National Cancer Governance Board, and provide an annual Board report to the Public Health Committee covering progress, key risks and mitigation.[27]
• Conduct a mid-term review in early 2025 to identify completed deliverables and areas requiring additional support.[27]
• Develop operational key performance indicators with targets, review them annually, report them quarterly to the National Cancer Governance Board, and refine them when services, technologies or baselines change.[27]
• Approve programme indicator reporting mechanisms, schedules and templates, alongside a capacity, capability and governance review.[26]
• Maintain cancer surveillance through the Qatar Cancer Information Center, which integrates the Qatar National Cancer Registry, Cancer Screening Registry and Cancer Waiting Times Registry.[22]
• Review the Minimum Cancer Data Set annually, expand it to cover areas including molecular and palliative-care data, and maintain engagement with the International Agency for Research on Cancer.[22]
• Track incidence through registry measures including new cases, age-standardised and crude incidence rates, and cumulative incidence risk; the reported 2020 total was 2,024 new cases and the age-standardised rate was 150.67 per 100,000.[34]
• Use projected incidence, survival and cancer-distribution data for capacity planning; reported overall three-year survival rose from 65.6% in 2018 to 89.3% in 2020, while five-year survival rose from 59.7% in 2016 to 80.2% in 2020.[34]
• Monitor breast and bowel screening through national key performance indicator libraries, screening guidelines, quality frameworks, a screening registry, call-centre data, coverage and uptake reporting.[7]
• Undertake internal Primary Health Care Corporation audits and Ministry of Public Health external audits, supported by the World Health Organization and International Agency for Research on Cancer.[8]
• Establish a cervical cancer detection baseline by the fourth quarter of 2024, complete feasibility studies for priority screening programmes by the fourth quarter of 2025, and create a clinical peer-review group for urgent suspected-cancer referrals by the fourth quarter of 2025.[9]
• Use Cancer Awareness Measure and behavioural surveys to assess public knowledge, risk awareness, symptoms, beliefs and misconceptions; awareness and behavioural surveys were scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of 2023.[31][5]
• Establish a national cancer observatory within the public health observatory to collect information and prepare reports for planning and evaluation.[29]
• Coordinate and monitor holistic-support integration through a national governing entity or committee, supported by national data baselines, ongoing data capture, a Ministry of Public Health registry and patient-experience satisfaction questions.[18]
• Establish a national paediatric oncology registry by the fourth quarter of 2024 to support planning, quality improvement, trend monitoring, performance management, patient experience and research.[21]
• Monitor cancer-service quality through waiting-time data, tailored indicators, multidisciplinary team review of confirmed cases, accredited peer review, departmental indicator suites and relevant accreditation arrangements.[11][12]
• Require the Cancer Research Office to report quarterly to the National Cancer Governance Board and use a National Research Group to monitor research investment and coordination.[22]

Costing & Financing

The plan presents cancer prevention, screening, domestic capacity and research as investments that can improve health outcomes, reduce longer-term costs and support sustainable services.[35][13]However, the supplied material does not provide an overall Qatar Cancer Plan budget, financing envelope, funding-gap estimate or costed allocation by deliverable.[24][27]

• Estimate that each 1 Qatari Riyal invested in cancer interventions could generate returns of 4 to 10 Qatari Riyals over a decade.[35][2]
• Identify prevention and cost-effective population interventions as means to reduce health-system and wider societal costs; population-level prevention approaches are estimated to cost five times less on average than individual interventions.[13]
• Report global annual economic costs of cancer exceeding US$1.2 trillion and cite global modelling requiring an additional US$18 billion annually during 2023–2030 for an effective package of non-communicable disease interventions.[13][36]
• Present domestic cancer capacity as a potential means of reducing costs associated with treatment abroad, while noting possible revenue from attracting international patients.[36]
• Require budget and workforce requirements to be included in implementation plans for each deliverable, with the National Cancer Governance Board liaising with stakeholders on allocations and fiscal support.[24][27]
• Identify dedicated funding and specialised staff as necessary for increased screening demand and complexity, without specifying amounts or funding sources.[9]
• Identify capital investment for palliative home care and substantial fiscal and human-resource investment for the proposed Comprehensive Cancer Center, but provide no quantified costs.[12][14]
• Recognise financial difficulties among cancer-affected families and call for accessible benefits and support, without assigning monetary values.[17][37]
• Identify high-cost medicines, advanced therapeutics, specialised staffing, transplantation and clinical-trial capacity as material resource considerations for paediatric cancer services.[20][21]
• Identify investment needs for workforce, infrastructure, digitalisation, screening, research and cancer services, while leaving budgets, expenditure, financing sources and funding gaps unspecified.[25]