National cancer registry

Pakistan's growing cancer burden demands urgent, coordinated action. With estimates of about 185,000 new cases and 118,000 deaths per year, the absence of a unified national cancer registry has long impeded effective response. The country currently has 17 public and private cancer registries, but there is insufficient coordination among them, and they only cover 19 cities, according to research recently published by The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal.

Establishing a comprehensive national cancer registry is not merely an administrative exercise, but a fundamental necessity for evidence-based cancer control. A unified national registry would provide accurate, representative data on cancer incidence, types and trends across all regions. This is crucial for informed policymaking and resource allocation. Current estimates are highly unreliable due to the flawed nature of the data, with the Karachi Cancer Registry suggesting that the national incidence may be double previous estimates. A national registry would illuminate preventable causes and inform the development of more effective containment strategies. Existing data shows the leading cancers — oral, liver and lung in men; and breast and cervical in women — are directly linked to preventable risks such as tobacco, hepatitis and human papillomavirus.

A central registry would also enhance research and collaboration, while potentially improving monitoring and care. There is also good reason to believe that foreign aid is more likely to increase if a well-run national registry can provide higher-quality data to illustrate the scope of the problem and where and how interventions could provide the most bang for donors' bucks. Ultimately, however the registry project comes to fruition, once operational, it will surely be one of those rare public initiatives that genuinely deserves universal praise.