Improving breast and colorectal cancer screening uptake in Malaysia

The global burden of cancer is expected to increase to 22 million new cases per annum by 2030, an increase of 75% since 2008 (Bray, Ren, Masuyer, & Ferlay, 2013). Similarly, this rising trend is evident in Malaysia, and breast cancer (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) are the commonest cancers. It is concerning too that approximately half of BC cases and more than 60% of CRC cases are detected late, at stages III and IV (Azizah et al., 2019); and about half of cancer-related deaths in Malaysia could be avoided if cancer was detected and diagnosed early (Ho et al., 2017).