{
  "id": 9481269,
  "title": "AI to play a role in better managing cancer: Lo",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/ai-to-play-a-role-in-better-managing-cancer-lo-9481269",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-24T03:44:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "RTHK News",
    "slug": "rthk-news",
    "url": "https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1871352-20260924.htm"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau emphasized the significant role that artificial intelligence can play in improving Hong Kong's approach to cancer management during a speech at a World Cancer Congress plenary session. He acknowledged the city's remarkable progress in cancer control and prevention over the past three decades, including a more than 40 percent reduction in age-standardised cancer mortality rates and a steady decline in annual cancer mortality rates for both men and women.\n\nLo highlighted how screening programs have enabled earlier treatment, and the government's efforts to prevent cancer through vaccination programs and anti-tobacco measures have contributed to a historic low smoking rate, down from about 23 percent in the 1980s to the current 8.5 percent. As Hong Kong looks to the future, the government will further strengthen cancer management through biotechnology and policy interventions. Lo expressed confidence in the potential of AI to enhance earlier detection, precise diagnosis, and efficient care delivery, but cautioned that the technology must be implemented carefully, ethically, and in a way that augments, rather than supersedes, the expertise of medical professionals.\n\nThe Health Secretary pledged that the SAR will carefully coordinate the adoption of AI in a manner that ensures ethical governance, so that patients will experience safe and equitable benefits from the technology. Furthermore, the SAR will leverage its unique position as a bridge between the mainland and the rest of the world to foster international healthcare collaboration, solidifying Hong Kong's role in the nation's healthcare development. The World Cancer Congress, organized in partnership with the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society for the first time in Hong Kong's history, took place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai from March 27th to 29th.",
  "summary": "Health secretary Lo Chung-mau on Thursday highlighted AI's role in strengthening Hong Kong's efforts in cancer management. Speaking at a plenary session of the World Cancer Congress, he noted that the SAR has been making significant progress in cancer control and prevention. For instance, the age-standardised cancer mortality rate fell by over 40 percent in the past three decades. The annual rate…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "RTHK English",
        "title": "AI to play a role in better managing cancer: Lo",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/ai-to-play-a-role-in-better-managing-cancer-lo",
        "published": "2026-09-24T03:44:14.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}