Cancer ls Lhe Lhlrd leadlng cause of morbldlLy and morLallLy ln Lhe hlllpplnes Leadlng cancer

slLes/Lypes are lung breasL cervlx llver colon and recLum prosLaLe sLomach oral cavlLy ovary and
leukemla 1here ls aL presenL a low cancer prevenLlon consclousness and mosL cancer paLlenLs seek
consulLaLlon only aL advanced sLages Cancer survlval raLes are relaLlvely low 1he hlllpplne Cancer
ConLrol rogram begun ln 1988 ls an lnLegraLed approach uLlllzlng prlmary secondary and LerLlary
prevenLlon ln dlfferenL reglons of Lhe counLry aL boLh hosplLal and communlLy levels Slx lead cancers
(lung breasL llver cervlx oral cavlLy colon and recLum) are dlscussed leaLures pecullar Lo Lhe
hlllpplnes are descrlbed and Lhelr causaLlon and prevenLlon are dlscussed A recenL assessmenL
revealed shorLcomlngs ln Lhe Cancer ConLrol rogram and urgenL recommendaLlons were made Lo
reverse Lhe anLlclpaLed 'cancer epldemlc' 1here ls also Loday ln place a CommunlLybased Cancer Care
neLwork whlch seeks Lo develop a neLwork of selfsufflclenL communlLles sharlng responslblllLy for
cancer care and conLrol ln Lhe counLry

1he provlnces of llocos norLe llocos Sur La unlon and angaslnan comprlse 8eglon 1 whlle Lhe
provlnces of Aurora nueva Lcl[a 8ulacan 8aLaan 1arlac Zambales and ampanga comprlse 8eglon 2
8ondoc sald 8eglons 1 and 2 are among Lhe reglons wlLh hlghesL prevalence of cancer cases CLher
reglons are Lhe naLlonal CaplLal 8eglon and 8eglons 4 6 and 7 8ondoc sald clLlng 2004 hlllpplne PealLh
sLaLlsLlcs

lv arL 1 coocet loclJeoce 19982002 M 1 M 8edanlel Av Lhe analysls of Lhe loclJeoce of
coocet lo Lhe populaLlons of MeLropollLan Manlla and 8lzal rovlnce lo Lhe (6983) 8lcol (427)
llocooo (416) 8lsaya (387) and
The population covered by the PCS-MCR, based
on the 2000 Census oI Population and Housing, was
5,287,425, representing an increase oI 4.1 as
compared to that in 1995. As a whole, the population
was young, with 31.87 under 15 years oI age and only
2.10 over 65 (Figure 1.3.2). There were 140 diIIerent
ethnic groups, the largest oI which were Tagalog
(69.85), Bicol (4.27), Ilocano (4.16), Bisaya
(3.87) and Waray (2.81). Among the Ioreign ethnic
groups, the largest were Chinese (0.59). People oI
American/English ethnicity and other Ioreign groups
comprised 0.02 and 0.04, respectively. Roman
Catholics comprised 88.8 oI the population while
3.2 belonged to Iglesia ni Kristo and 0.6 were
Muslims.
Health services in