Resources for
Policy Makers

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Cancer Atlas For

Policy Makers

The Australian Cancer Atlas 2.0 is a vital tool for informing cancer policies, priorities and activations. As well as geographical patterns for cancer diagnosis and survival rates, the atlas now offers insights into geographical patterns for:

  • Cancer risk factors
  • Screening participation
  • Clinical characteristics
  • Some treatment utilisation

Policy makers can use the Australian Cancer Atlas 2.0 to identify priority areas for cancer prevention and early diagnosis campaigning and improved health service provision.

How has the Australian Cancer Atlas been used by policy makers?

Policy makers in Australia and across the world have used the Australian Cancer Atlas to inform their policies surrounding cancer prevention, early detection, treatment and survivorship.

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South Australian Cancer Plan

Quantitative data from the Australian Cancer Atlas was instrumental in forming the South Australian Cancer Plan Background Paper. In this paper, South Australia Health used Australian Cancer Atlas data to:

Demonstrate areas of South Australia where overall cancer diagnosis rates are higher than the Australian average

Reveal areas of South Australia where diagnosis rates of particular cancer types are well above Australian average

Show how the excess death rates for all cancers combined in many South Australian regional areas are above the national average

Show which areas of South Australia have above average excess death rates

These findings have helped contextualise the state of cancer care in South Australia and will be used to inform future health policies.

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New Zealand Ministry of Health

The New Zealand Ministry of Health has worked closely with the Australian Cancer Atlas team to begin development of a Cancer Atlas for New Zealand. Cancer Council Queensland and QUT have supported this project by providing workshops, statistical model syntax, and data and modelling assistance.

“The quality, relevance and impact of the Australian Cancer Atlas has resulted in a collaboration between the researchers behind its success and the New Zealand Ministry of Health (MoH).

The project will see the methods and models reproduced with New Zealand data to produce a vital resource for the health sector, enabling service planners and policy makers to identify geographic patterns of inequality.”

Dr John McCarthy

How to use the Australian Cancer Atlas 2.0

If you’d like help navigating the Australian Cancer Atlas 2.0, head to our How to Use page for detailed instructions for gathering insights and understanding what they mean.

Share your story

Have you used the Australian Cancer Atlas to further your work or in your community? We’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to: atlas@cancerqld.org.au or, fill out our contact form:

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Phone

(07) 3634 5100

Address

553 Gregory Terrace, Fortitude Valley, QLD, 4006

Mailing Address

PO Box 201, Spring Hill, QLD, 4004

If you’ve got questions, comments or feedback about the Australian Cancer Atlas 2.0 we’d love to hear from you.

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