Cancer in Indonesia, present and future

Cancer control has been in effect in Indonesia since the early 1920s. It was the Dutch Colonial Government who started with the Institution for Cancer Control, which was closed by the Japanese Occupation Administration between 1942 and 1945. After the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, a Cancer Control Foundation was established in 1962. At present, clinical and non-clinical departments in government teaching hospitals (there are 13 teaching hospitals) usually handle all cancer problems. In 1993, Dharmais Cancer Center in Jakarta was established and has become the top referral cancer hospital for Indonesia. Until now, there have been no nationwide accurate data on cancer registration, owing to a lack of funds and manpower. Cancer data collection is usually provided as a relative frequency study from several departments of the teaching hospitals. It is currently estimated that there will be at least 170-190 new cancer cases annually for each 100 000 people. The most frequent and primary cancers are cervix, breast, lymph node, skin and nasopharynx. Since Indonesia is now in a transition phase and has many problems concerning the economy and health care, we suggested a well-planned cancer control program. It includes the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of cancer in cities, where inhabitants can afford to subsidize a certain proportion of the budgets for the implementation of this program.