The Taiwan Cancer Registry was founded in 1979 by the National Department of Health with an aim to estimate thecancer incidence in Taiwan. It is a population-based cancer registry with the collection of information on cancer patientsnewly diagnosed in hospitals with 50 or more beds throughout the country. The registry is financially supported by thegovernment agency. Registration fees are paid to the reporting hospitals on the basis of case number reported. Since 1994,the registry has been contracted to and run by the Taiwan Public Health Association. The registry center has an epidemiologistas the director, a postdoctoral research fellow and eight cancer registrars. The registry has an advisory board including18 members with specialties in pathology, oncology, radiotherapy, cancer registry, and public health. The first volume ofCancer Registry Annual Report for the 1980 incidence data was published in 1982.Taiwan has a main island and several small islets including Penghu, Kinmen, Matzu, and Orchid Islet as shown in Figure1. It has an area of 36,000 km2 located at the latitude of 24oN and the longitude of 121oE. At the end of 1999, the totalpopulation in Taiwan was 22,092,387 including 11,312,728 males and 10,779,659 females.
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