Burden of gastrointestinal cancer in Asia; an overview

The cancers in the digestive system including gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatic cancer are one of the most common cancers in Asia. The burden of GI cancer is increasing in Asia because of aging, growth of the population and the risk factors including smoking, obesity, changing lifestyle and high prevalence of H pylori, HBV and HCV. In most Asian countries, cancer control programs or early detection and treatment services are limited despite this increase. There are many people in the developing countries inside Asia who have no health insurance and many of them are too poor to go for screening tests, early detection or medical treatments. Therefore, it is important for the health organizations and governments in each country to recognize these groups and reduce the incidence and mortality of gastrointestinal cancers, using simple and economic screening test, vaccination and changing risk factors such as smoking, diet and lifestyle by education programs.