National Cancer Priorities For Action

Objectives

The National Cancer Control Programme operationalises the National Cancer Policy 2015 through a whole-of-pathway strategy to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality, improve survival, and enhance quality of life. It covers prevention, screening and early detection, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, cancer registration, research and coordinated support for people affected by cancer.[1][2]The strategy gives particular weight to prevention and early diagnosis because treatment capacity and resources are limited and prevention has previously received insufficient attention.[3]

• Prevent avoidable cancers by addressing tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, exposure to carcinogenic substances and vaccine-preventable causes of cancer.[2]
• Strengthen screening and early diagnosis through public awareness, appropriate screening programmes, prompt referral and improved recognition of cancer symptoms.[3][2][4]
• Ensure accessible, high-quality diagnosis and treatment by improving laboratory capacity, specialist services, clinical guidance, referral pathways and multidisciplinary care across primary, secondary and tertiary services.[3][4]
• Improve quality of life by establishing community cancer services, incorporating patients’ views and treatment choices, and providing personal, social, psychosocial, spiritual and bereavement support.[2][4]
• Expand palliative care from diagnosis onwards, rather than limiting it to advanced disease or the end of life.[4]
• Develop the cancer workforce, infrastructure, governance, information systems, research capacity, stakeholder coordination and resource mobilisation needed to sustain cancer control.[3][5]
• Establish a National Cancer Registry and surveillance capacity to record incidence, survival and mortality, guide planning and support evaluation of cancer services.[3][5]

Implementation

Implementation combines evidence-based interventions suitable for low-resource settings with strengthened national leadership, integrated service delivery and partnerships across government, communities, voluntary organisations, international agencies and clinical institutions.[1][2][4]Delivery is intended to link risk reduction, screening, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care and support services through a national referral system, while extending relevant laboratory and early-detection capacity towards district and peripheral health facilities.[3]

• Coordinate programme activities through national cancer leadership and the National Cancer Committee Secretariat, aligning government, donor and partner contributions.[3]
• Strengthen the Cancer Unit at Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae through improved infrastructure, staffing, equipment and funding, including capacity for radiotherapy and associated cancer services.[1]
• Develop a skilled and flexible workforce in oncology, radiotherapy, brachytherapy, medical physics, oncology nursing, radiation protection and radiation safety through domestic training, overseas placements and collaboration among specialist and general clinical teams.[3][5]
• Build partnerships with the International Atomic Energy Agency for workforce development, infrastructure procurement and expert advice, and pursue sustainable government-to-government links with Australian cancer institutions.[3]
• Improve access to essential cancer medicines, including morphine, while strengthening procurement and other service-support systems.[3]
• Deliver prevention beyond the health sector by addressing social and economic determinants of cancer risk, engaging voluntary organisations in public information, and enabling community health workers to support risk reduction, early detection and rapid referral.[2][4]
• Introduce cost-effective screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, alongside prostate-specific antigen testing for prostate cancer, supported by specialist referral and diagnostic follow-up.[2][4]
• Provide patient-centred care that considers expected outcomes, quality of life and psychosocial needs, and use palliative care to provide physical, spiritual and psychosocial support through diagnosis, treatment, end-of-life care and bereavement.[4]
• Use cancer surveillance, registry data and research to monitor incidence, prevalence, survival, treatment quality and outcomes; treat mortality as the principal outcome indicator for screening effectiveness and survival as an important measure of treatment effect.[2][5]
• Increase operational resources for cancer services and provide Papua New Guinea Government counterpart funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency country project; the available text does not specify total costs, budget allocations, funding gaps, reporting schedules or a detailed accountability framework.[3][2][5]

Monitoring & Evaluation

Cancer monitoring and evaluation are centred on establishing surveillance capacity, including a National Cancer Registry, to address major gaps in knowledge of cancer morbidity and mortality and to support planning, prevention and service improvement.[1][3][5]

• Establish and resource a National Cancer Registry to maintain cancer incidence, survival and mortality statistics and inform the National Health Plan.[3][5]
• Strengthen cancer surveillance because national morbidity and mortality rates are not known and substantial numbers of cancers remain undiagnosed.[1]
• Collect the operational resources and data needed to run the registry and improve national cancer information.[3]
• Monitor cancer incidence, prevalence and survival in order to assess the cancer burden, treatment quality and patient outcomes.[2][5]
• Use survival as an important measure of the ultimate effect of cancer treatment.[5]
• Use mortality as the principal outcome indicator for assessing screening effectiveness.[2]
• Evaluate treatment quality and outcomes to guide preventive action and improvements in cancer services.[2]
• Undertake research across relevant aspects of cancer care, including research supporting modern treatment aligned with international quality standards.[5]
• Conduct continuing evaluation of the progress and effectiveness of activities under the Cancer Plan.[5]
• Strengthen governance, legal and regulatory arrangements relevant to cancer control, including radiation protection and safety requirements.[3]

The National Cancer Committee Secretariat is identified as the national leadership mechanism for coordinating government, donor and partner activity, which provides a potential institutional basis for oversight across the programme.[3]The supplied material does not specify its reporting authority, decision-making powers, meeting arrangements or formal accountability processes.[3]

Service-level monitoring is implied through the plan's intended linkage of prevention, early detection, diagnostic, treatment and support services, expansion of laboratory capacity, and operation of a national referral system.[3]The material does not specify service-performance indicators, facility reporting tools, data-quality procedures, reporting frequency, publication arrangements or responsibilities for analysing and acting on results.[3][5]

Registry and surveillance data are intended to support national planning, while research and evaluation are intended to assess whether Cancer Plan activities are progressing and effective.[5]However, the supplied text does not set baselines, targets, indicator definitions, disaggregation requirements, evaluation dates, independent review mechanisms or sanctions and incentives for performance.[5]

Costing & Financing

Cancer-control implementation requires additional financial and material resources, particularly for strengthening the Cancer Unit at Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae and expanding the wider cancer service system.[1]Financing needs encompass staffing, infrastructure, equipment, medicines, training, laboratory services, registry development and coordination, although the source provides no quantified overall cost or financing plan.[1][3]

• Increase funding for the Lae Cancer Unit to improve infrastructure, staffing and equipment and enable expansion of radiotherapy and related services.[1]
• Provide Papua New Guinea Government counterpart funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency country project intended to improve access to radiotherapy services.[3]
• Increase the existing budget appropriation for cancer service operations.[3]
• Mobilise resources for cancer-service infrastructure, support systems, laboratory capacity, human-resource development, data collection and programme coordination.[3]
• Improve procurement and supply of cancer medicines, including morphine.[3]
• Support oncology, radiotherapy, brachytherapy, medical physics, nursing oncology, radiation protection and radiation-safety training through in-country development and overseas placements.[3]
• Develop collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency for human-resource development, infrastructure procurement and expert advice.[3]
• Pursue sustainable government-to-government partnerships with Australian cancer institutions to support cancer-service development.[3]
• Initiate screening programmes described as cost-effective, including proposed breast, cervical and colorectal screening and prostate-specific antigen testing, without stated monetary thresholds or estimates.[2][4]

The resource context is constrained: prevention and early detection are emphasised partly because prevention has been neglected and treatment resources are limited.[3]The plan also identifies a need to improve cancer medicine procurement and other support systems.[3]

No numerical budget allocations, programme totals, recurrent or capital cost estimates, funding-gap values, financing shares, donor commitments, economic assumptions, cost-effectiveness thresholds or implementation timeframes are specified in the supplied text.[1][3][2]

The available financing information therefore identifies priority resource requirements and counterpart-funding expectations rather than a fully costed investment case.[1][3]