Establishment of an Asian Cancer Registry Network - problems and perspectives.

Cancer registration is the base for our understanding of the burden of neoplastic disease in our populations at the local, regional and national levels. Comparability of data is essential for interpretation and this in turn depends on standardization of methodology and the diagnostic and other criteria applied. If this is to be achieved across Asia, some form of international organization is clearly necessary. The question therefore should be whether the existing arrangement is adequate, and if this is not the case how a network in Asia might be established with due consideration of aims and attainable objectives. The present commentary focuses on the contributions made by the International Association of Cancer Registries (IACR) and individual country-based or region-based associations already active in Asia. Building on an analysis of the present status in Asia, as well as experience of the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), potential problems and possible solutions are here reviewed, with coverage of both organizational and financial constraints. An argument is presented here that there is a rationale for some form of an Asian Network of Cancer Registries, supported by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the UICC-Asian Regional Office, working alongside the IACR and existing national organizations and research institutes.