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Inequity in rural cancer survival in Australia is not an insurmountable problem

Craig R Underhill, David Goldstein and Paul B Grogan
Med J Aust 2006; 185 (9): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00660.x
Published online: 6 November 2006

Inequity in rural cancer survival in Australia is not an insurmountable problem: it is a test of our health systems

Australia has lower cancer mortality rates than comparable nations like the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. However, there is increasing evidence that this success may be bypassing the 2.8 million Australians who live in rural and remote Australia.1-3


  • 1 Clinical Oncological Society of Australia's Rural and Regional Oncology Group, Border Medical Oncology, Murray Valley Private Hospital, Wodonga, VIC.
  • 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Prince of Wales Hospital, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
  • 3 The Cancer Council Australia, Sydney, NSW.


Correspondence: paul.grogan@cancer.org.au

  • 1. Clinical Oncological Society of Australia. Mapping rural and regional oncology services in Australia, March 2006. http://www.cosa.org.au/documents/Mapping_regional_oncology_services_MAR06.pdf (accessed Sep 2006).
  • 2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. Cancer survival in Australia 1992–1997: geographic categories and socioeconomic status. Cancer Series No. 22. Canberra: AIHW, 2003. (AIHW Catalogue No. CAN 17.)
  • 3. Jong KE, Smith DP, Yu XQ, et al. Remoteness of residence and survival from cancer in New South Wales. Med J Aust 2004; 180: 618-622. <MJA full text>
  • 4. Jong KE, Vale PJ, Armstrong BK. Rural inequalities in cancer care and outcome. Med J Aust 2005; 182: 13-14. <MJA full text>
  • 5. The Cancer Council Australia, Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, and Department of Health and Ageing. Cancer in the bush: optimising clinical services. Conference report. Canberra: COSA, 2001.
  • 6. Barton MB, Gebski V, Manderson C, Langlands AO. Radiation therapy: are we getting value for money? Clin Oncol R Coll Radiol 1995; 7: 287-292.
  • 7. Shepherd L, Goldstein D, Whitford H, et al. The utility of videoconferen-cing to provide innovative delivery of psychological treatment for rural cancer patients: results of a pilot study. J Pain Symptom Manage 2006. In press.
  • 8. Olver IN, Selva-Nayagam S. Evaluation of a telemedicine link between Adelaide and Darwin to facilitate cancer management. Telemed J 2000; 6: 213-218.
  • 9. Dewar AM, Steginga SK, Dunn J, et al. Delivering cancer nursing education to regional, rural and remote area nurses in Queensland. Cancer Forum 2001; 27: 27-29.

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