Report calls for national cancer control plan

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for a national strategy to reduce cancer incidence and mortality and improve quality of life for survivors. The report recommends that the Department of Health and Human Services lead a federal effort to develop a National Cancer Control Plan and fund an independent organization or consortium to develop a public planning and monitoring tool to support the plan. “While we have seen encouraging progress in some aspects of cancer control — such as declining death rates for certain types of cancer — the disease continues to take a toll on patients, their loved ones and society,” said study chair Michael Johns, executive vice president for health affairs emeritus and professor of medicine and public health at Emory University. “Cancer is complex, and there will be no single solution that can succeed across all cancers or affected populations. That’s why we need a new approach to cancer control — one that moves people, institutions and resources out of their silos.”