News: Cancer survival rates have improved, report

With the Walk to End Women’s Cancers last weekend and the Terry Fox run in a matter of days, new information has been released about cancer survival rates in Canada’and the news is encouraging.

According to a report by Statistics Canada, Canadians who have been diagnosed with cancer are living longer and the survival rate for some cancers has increased, reports the CBC. The report revealed that the five-year survival rate for those diagnosed with cancer between 2004 and 2006 is approximately 62 percent, an increase of six percent when compared to those who were diagnosed between 1998 and 2000.

The report also noted that survival rates for particular cancers’liver, leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma’have risen considerably.

What’s behind the increase? Statistics Canada points to a number of possible factors, including early diagnosis and improvements in treatment.

While the news is good, senior manager of cancer control policy with the Canadian Cancer Society Gillian Bromfield stresses that the work is ongoing. "We are heartened to see that overall, the overall five-year survival rate is 62 percent," Bromfiled told the Canadian Press. "We want to see that go up. Sixty-two per cent is still, in my mind, too low."

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