REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1608525
This article is part of the Research TopicEquity in Cancer Care: Mechanisms and Interventions for Enhanced AccessView all 4 articles
Current Status of Cancer Education in Developing and Developed Countries: Identifying the Disparities and Bridging the Gap
Provisionally accepted
Gulimire Yilihamu1
Shalayiding Aierxiding2*- 1First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
- 2Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Cancer constitutes a significant public health issue globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second most common cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for 10% of all deaths in 2020-2022. GLOBOCAN 2020 data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) show that agestandardized incidence rates (ASR) in developed nations are markedly higher than those in developing countries. For instance, Australia reports an ASR of 468.0 per 100,000, while India's ASR stands at only 97.1 per 100,000. This discrepancy can be attributed partly to more robust cancer registration systems, extensive screening programs, and cancer education prevalent in developed countries. Notably, the participation rate in breast cancer screening in the United States surpasses 70%, in contrast to less than 20% in certain African regions, as reported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Through a systematic review, this paper examines the gaps in cancer education policies, resource allocation, educational approaches, public awareness, and healthcare system support between developed and developing countries, proposing strategies to bridge these gaps.The research reveals that developed countries boast well-established policy support, ample financial investment, and advanced educational technologies in cancer education.In contrast, with a later start, developing countries face challenges such as resource scarcity, incomplete policies, and insufficient public awareness. To narrow these disparities, developing countries must strengthen policy support, increase financial investment, particularly in rural areas, improve cancer prevention and control legislation, enhance the accessibility and quality of cancer education, promote innovative educational methods, and elevate public awareness of cancer prevention and control.
Keywords: Cancer education, Developing Countries, Developed Countries, disparities, policy support, public awareness
Received: 09 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yilihamu and Aierxiding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shalayiding Aierxiding, Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.