Pakistan is a densely populated, low-income country with an estimated population of 21 million (1). Pakistan is endemic for several communicable and non-communicable mainly due to unawareness in general population, unhygienic lifestyle, poor sanitary conditions in populated areas (2). There are very few studies about the incidence and prevalence of cancer in Pakistan. Previously there are only two cancer registries located in Karachi and Lahore cities and recently (in 2015) a National Cancer Registry was established in Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC) Islamabad (3). The age standardized ration for cancer in females is slightly higher (172/100000) then males (145/100000). Recently, there are 150,000 new cancer cases in Pakistan and 60%-80% of these patients die (4). About 7000 to 7500 children get cancer every year in Pakistan (5). Malnutrition and communicable diseases are the main killers of children in Pakistan. Due to better diagnostic facilities, cancer is becoming a serious factor in childhood morbidity and mortality. According to available data, childhood cancer accounts for 10% of all reported cancers in 2017 (5-6). Leukemia (31%) and lymphomas (20%) are the major childhood cancer as per Karachi cancer registry Pakistan (5). Punjab cancer registry data showed that lymphomas (31%) are relatively higher prevalent than leukemia (23%) (6). The available data at newly established PHRC National Cancer Registry is very limited and is not showing the prevalence of childhood cancers (3). There is a dire need for an accurate surveillance system for cancer incidence and mortality. There are very few populations based cancer registries in the country. In a country with more than 21 million inhabitants, there should be more cancer registries in the country. The data collection system needs to improve and the collected data should be combined at national level. Only when such data are available, this will be of help for policy-makers to make sensible decisions on allocation of precious healthcare resources.

中文翻译：

---

巴基斯坦的儿童癌症

巴基斯坦是一个人口稠密的低收入国家，估计人口为 2100 万 (1)。巴基斯坦是几种传染性和非传染性的地方病，主要是由于一般人群不了解、不卫生的生活方式、人口稠密地区的卫生条件差 (2)。关于巴基斯坦癌症发病率和患病率的研究很少。以前，卡拉奇和拉合尔市只有两个癌症登记处，最近（2015 年）在巴基斯坦卫生研究委员会 (PHRC) 伊斯兰堡建立了国家癌症登记处 (3)。女性癌症的年龄标准化比率 (172/100000) 略高于男性 (145/100000)。最近，巴基斯坦有 150,000 例新的癌症病例，其中 60%-80% 的患者死亡 (4)。巴基斯坦每年约有 7000 至 7500 名儿童患上癌症 (5)。营养不良和传染病是巴基斯坦儿童的主要杀手。由于更好的诊断设施，癌症正在成为儿童发病率和死亡率的重要因素。根据现有数据，2017 年儿童癌症占所有报告癌症的 10% (5-6)。根据巴基斯坦卡拉奇癌症登记处 (5)，白血病 (31%) 和淋巴瘤 (20%) 是主要的儿童癌症。旁遮普癌症登记数据显示，淋巴瘤 (31%) 的患病率相对高于白血病 (23%) (6)。新成立的 PHRC 国家癌症登记处的可用数据非常有限，没有显示儿童癌症的患病率 (3)。迫切需要一个准确的癌症发病率和死亡率监测系统。该国很少有基于人群的癌症登记处。在一个人口超过 2100 万的国家，该国应该有更多的癌症登记处。数据收集系统需要改进，收集的数据应在国家层面进行整合。只有当这些数据可用时，这才会有助于政策制定者就宝贵的医疗资源的分配做出明智的决定。