Achieving equitable access to cancer screening services to reduce the cancer burden in the Asia-Pacific region: Experience from Hong Kong

The global burden of cancer can be reduced through early detection by providing people with unrestricted access to cancer screening services. However, health disparities exist within and across countries and regions. This viewpoint article uses the Integrative Multicomponent Programme for Promoting South Asians’ Cancer Screening Uptake (IMPACT) project as an example of sharing strategies, such as evidence-based multimedia interventions, community health worker-led interventions, strengthening relationships and building networks, that are being adopted to improve ethnic minorities’ access to cancer screening services in Hong Kong. We find that the IMPACT project effectively increased South Asians’ cancer screening uptake (e.g. the cervical cancer screening uptake rate saw a 42% increase over 5 years). Future directions for scaling up the IMPACT project have been suggested to contribute to achieving Goal 3 in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, that is, ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of all people at all ages.