Headline message

We will especially tackle cancer in low-income communities

Detailed goal

The differences in the risk of dying from cancer between the most affluent and the least affluent will be reduced by half.

Background information and strategies

How we will measure this

Every three years, we will ask the Office of National Statistics to provide us with an analysis of the differences in cancer death rates according to different levels of deprivation in the UK.

The current situation

In the most deprived areas, cancer death rates are 70% higher for males and 41% higher for females than in the least deprived areas. During 1999 – 2003, cancer death rates in males from the most deprived areas were 186 per 100,000 population compared with 109 per 100,000 population for males from the least deprived areas. The female rates were 131 per 100,000 population and 93 per 100,000 population respectively.

We will achieve this goal by:

• Supporting research and initiatives designed to help people stop smoking (see Goal 3)
• Undertaking research to understand how to improve symptom awareness, early presentation and participation in screening among the least affluent groups
• Undertaking research aimed at understanding which methods are most effective in improving public health among the least affluent groups
• Lobbying Government, devolved administrations and the EU to introduce policies that reduce inequalities in cancer incidence, treatment and outcomes across different social groups.

We hope this work will also be supported by:

Government

• Implementing targeted initiatives aimed at improving public health, symptom awareness and early presentation among the least affluent groups in the UK
• Promoting smoking reduction in the least affluent communities through targeted initiatives
• Collecting better information on cancer patients' outcomes throughout the UK, as a means to improving local standards of care
• Improving ethnicity monitoring throughout the health services, so that any health inequalities can be identified and addressed.