World Cancer Day: Hope for better outcomes and access to care

February 4 is World Cancer Day, an initiative dedicated to reducing the global cancer burden, promoting greater care equity, and integrating cancer control into the world health and development agenda. Here at home, as it does around the world, cancer continues to affect a significant portion of the population.

Statistics Canada’s cancer data were profiled in the Canadian Cancer Statistics annual report last fall, and newly updated incidence data have been released recently.

Cancer (24.7%) remained the leading cause of death in Canada in 2022, ahead of heart disease (17.2%). Every hour in 2023, an expected 27 Canadians will have been diagnosed with cancer and 10 Canadians will have died of cancer.

There are also some optimistic data. Although lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer death, its mortality rate is declining at the fastest rate reported to date.

And, although it varies widely based on type of cancer and stage of diagnosis, the overall five-year net survival for all cancers combined has reached an estimated 64%, compared with 55% in the early 1990s. Significant progress was observed in each province.

The survival rate for cancer is typically higher if the cancer is detected at an earlier stage. For example, five-year net survival for stage I colon cancer is estimated at 92.4% in contrast to 11.1% when diagnosed at stage IV.

Access to care

The 2022-2024 theme for World Cancer Day is Close the Care Gap—to reduce barriers in access to care, including income, ethnicity, gender and disability.

Statistics Canada’s Health Care Access, Experiences and Related Outcomes Program is working to better understand how Canadians navigate the health care system, including challenges or barriers they may face. Collection is currently underway for the Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences - Primary and Specialist Care and goes until November 3, 2024. Topics covered include the access to and use of primary health care and specialist care, care coordination, barriers to care, prescription medications, and out-of-pocket expenses. If you are chosen to participate, please do so—results, which will be released in 2025, may be used to help inform the delivery of health care services.