举办大型国际医学会议的城市，其自身的医疗卫生领域往往会受到关注。作为此类“大型盛会”的热门举办地，香港也不例外。
Cities that host major international medical conferences can expect their own healthcare sector to come under attention. As a popular venue for such “mega-events”, Hong Kong is no exception.
这些活动也是东道主宣示成就的契机。卫生局局长卢寿茂在上周首次于香港举行的世界癌症大会上便如此做了。卢寿茂告诉与会代表，过去三十年来，该市将癌症相关死亡率降低了40%以上。
These events are also an opportunity for the host to proclaim its achievements. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau did so at the World Cancer Congress, held in Hong Kong for the first time last week. Lo told delegates the city had cut its rate of cancer-related deaths by more than 40 per cent over the past three decades.
他表示，过去10年间，男性年龄标准化癌症死亡率年均下降2.8%，女性为1.7%。“这是一项显著成就，显示香港在抗癌救命方面确实取得了重大进展，”他说。
He said that over the past 10 years, the annual decline in the age-standardised cancer mortality rate was 2.8 per cent for men and 1.7 per cent for women. “This is a remarkable achievement, showing that Hong Kong is really making significant life-saving progress against cancer,” he said.
香港在抗癌斗争中确实迈出了巨大步伐。但正如专家近期在《南华早报》“健康议题”健康系列中所言，在更广泛的筛查和早期检测方面仍有提升空间，这本可挽救或延长更多生命。
Hong Kong has, indeed, made great strides in the battle against cancer. But, as experts told the South China Morning Post’s Health Matters wellness series recently, there remains room for wider screening and early detection that could save or prolong even more lives.
自1983年现代追踪记录开始以来，癌症病例数已翻倍多至38,000宗，但死于癌症的风险几乎减半，年龄标准化死亡率从1983年的每10万人口136.7宗降至2023年的71.1宗。这在发达经济体中属于最低水平之一。
Since modern tracking began in 1983, the number of cancer cases has more than doubled to 38,000, but the risk of dying from the disease has nearly halved from an age-standardised death rate of 136.7 per 100,000 people in 1983 to 71.1 in 2023. This is among the lowest in developed economies.
专家将成功归因于香港能够获得世界一流的药物和治疗，但警告称，该市必须在早期预防和筛查上投入更多资源，才能真正引领癌症管理。
Experts attributed the success to Hong Kong’s access to world-class drugs and treatments but warned that the city must invest more in early prevention and screening to truly lead in cancer management.
香港于2019年发布首份《癌症策略》。重点领域包括加强筛查、减少烟酒使用。政府表示，将利用2025-26年人口健康调查的数据评估该策略成效，该调查将于今年年底前进行。
Hong Kong issued its first Cancer Strategy in 2019. Key areas include enhancing screening and reducing tobacco and alcohol use. The government has said it would evaluate the strategy’s effectiveness using data from the 2025-26 population health survey, to be conducted by the end of this year.
香港中文大学著名肿瘤学家莫树锦教授表示，治疗肺癌——该市最常见且最致命的癌症类型——的进展，如靶向治疗和免疫治疗，已提高了全球生存率，包括香港在内。
Renowned oncologist Professor Tony Mok Shu-kam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said advances in treating lung cancer – the most common and deadliest type in the city – such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy had improved global survival rates, including in Hong Kong.
“香港的下一个前沿是分期迁移，即在早期发现癌症患者并通过手术治疗他们，”莫树锦说。2023年新发肺癌病例中，超过一半已处于第四期。“借助人工智能，我们可以将成本减半，因为我们不再需要聘请放射科专家，”莫树锦说。
“The next frontier for Hong Kong is stage migration, finding cancer patients at an early stage and treating them with surgery,” Mok said. More than half of new lung cancer cases in 2023 were already at stage 4. “With the help of AI [artificial intelligence], we can cut costs by half because we no longer need to hire a radiology specialist,” Mok said.
政府于2004年启动宫颈癌筛查，2016年启动大肠癌筛查，并于2021年和2025年分两阶段启动乳腺癌筛查。结果似乎令人鼓舞：通过这些计划发现的病例中，至少50%在第一、二期被检出。
The government launched cervical cancer screening in 2004, colorectal cancer screening in 2016 and breast cancer screening in two phases in 2021 and 2025. The results appear promising: at least 50 per cent of cases identified through these programmes were detected at the first and second stages.
然而，2023年的总体统计数据显示，差距依然存在：50.5%的大肠癌病例和20.4%的乳腺癌病例仅在第三、四期被发现。
However, overall statistics for 2023 reveal a persistent gap, with 50.5 per cent of colorectal cancer cases and 20.4 per cent of breast cancer cases only discovered at the third and fourth stage.
智库团结香港基金会助理研究总监周家俊在《南华早报》系列报道中指出，尽管香港在治疗和研究方面实力雄厚，但在预防、筛查和基层医疗整合方面却落后。他说：“香港人倾向于将健康管理视为专业事务，而非个人责任。他们往往直接求诊专科医生，而不先看家庭医生。”结果，根据2020-22年人口健康调查，只有50%符合条件的香港女性接受过宫颈癌筛查，而世界卫生组织的目标建议是35岁前和45岁前各筛查一次，覆盖率达到70%。周家俊说：“我们需要改变文化，让人们相信自己掌握着健康的主动权。”
Dicky Chow Ka-chun, assistant research director at think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, noted in the SCMP series that the city lagged in prevention, screening and primary care integration, despite its strengths in treatment and research. “Hongkongers tend to see health management as a specialised, professional matter rather than a personal responsibility,” he said. “They often go directly to specialists without seeing a general practitioner.” As a result, according to the 2020-22 population health survey, only 50 per cent of eligible women in Hong Kong had been screened for cervical cancer, compared with a World Health Organization target recommendation of 70 per cent by age 35 and again by 45. “We need to change the culture so people believe they are in control of their own health,” Chow said.
他敦促政府利用基层医疗网络和私营合作伙伴关系，分担筛查和治疗的病例负担，同时让公众信服医疗质量相当。
He urged the government to leverage primary healthcare networks and private partnerships to ease screening and treatment caseloads while convincing the public that the quality of care is comparable.
这些论点提醒我们，早期诊断无可替代，尤其是对于癌症这种隐匿性疾病，而社区筛查往往是最有效的手段。南华早报社论
These arguments are a reminder that there is no substitute for early diagnosis, especially for an insidious disease such as cancer, and often no more effective means than community screening. By SCMP Editorial