Nihon eiseigaku zasshi. Japanese journal of hygiene
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Nihon Eiseigaku Zasshi · Oct 1996
Review[Epidemiology of lung cancer and prevention strategy in Japan].
The incidence of and mortality from lung cancer have been increasing rapidly during recent decades in Japan, and in 1993 lung cancer became the leading cause of death from cancer in males. This increasing tendency is most striking for older age groups, especially those above 70 years of age. The incidence of multiple cancers related to lung cancer has been also increasing. ⋯ When divided by histologic type, above 90% of cases of squamous cell carcinoma and small cell carcinoma can be explained by direct smoking, while this is true for only about 40% of adenocarcinomas. Although the efficacy of lung cancer screening is still controversial, its role in lung cancer control strategy appears to be limited. Therefore, a multi-disciplinary control program, including anti-smoking activity, chemoprevention and early detection by new techniques should be developed.
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Securing access to medical services, controlling costs and improving quality are goals of health care system. Although they are all the same all over the country, each country has its own culture, health care system and health care problems. In the United States, employer-based and individual purchases of private health insurance coverage play a major role, although governmental programs such as Medicaid and Medicare exist for the poor and the elderly. ⋯ However, it is difficult to improve the quality of health care services within the present system. Japan can learn the system about disclosure of health care information from the managed care in the U. S.
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Nihon Eiseigaku Zasshi · Oct 1996
[The national health service in the United Kingdom-past, present and future].
Britain's National Health Service (NHS) came into existence in 1948. It was the first comprehensive health system in any Western society to be based on the national provision of services and to offer free medical care to the entire population. The NHS has gone through several developments since, in particular the reorganisations of 1974 and 1982 and the general management overhaul of 1984. ⋯ The plan rejects the use of competition in the NHS and promises to reverse recent developments, reasserting the importance of the original principles of the NHS. It is too early to reach a verdict on the British experiment. Given the direction of change in Labour's thinking and the fact that the current reforms by the Conservatives are becoming more and more firmly embedded, almost anything is possible.