China will embrace Italy as its new partner in the uphill battle against lung cancer, with a focus on detecting the disease.

"This time our efforts will rest on capacity building work for lung and gynecological cancer prevention in less developed west China," said Qiao Youlin, a cancer epidemiologist with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, adding that in the past "we've been focusing on clinical work when it comes to cooperation."

The government health departments and companies from the two countries will cooperate on screening, detection and treatment as well as home or palliative care for people with lung or gynecological cancer.

As part of the program, county-level medical workers in Chongqing will be given training on screening for breast, cervical and ovarian cancers, said Zhou Qi, ex-director of Chongqing Cancer Center.

The poor quality of early screening has meant that some people have missed an opportunity to get treatment, he said.

These patients usually had short post-treatment survival periods and left a heavy financial burden to their families.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in China. The five-year survival rate for cancer patients in the country is 31 percent, less than half the figure in the United States, Qiao said.

The situation is even worse in rural China, where the survival rate is less than 22 percent, compared to more than 39 percent in urban areas.

According to the National Cancer Center there are about 650,000 new cases of lung cancer in China annually and cancer claims 530,000 lives a year. Globally, it estimates that there are 1.8 million new cases per year, and 1.6 million people will lose their lives.

Lou Xiqiu, a farmer in Wenjiang County on the outskirts of Chengdu, capital of the southwest China's Sichuan Province, has smoked for 40 years.

The 65-year-old was diagnosed with lung cancer this year. He has had a couple of CT scans in the past, but they failed to spot pre-cancerous changes in his lungs. Now the disease is at an advanced stage.

Zhou Qinghua, a thoracic surgeon at the Lung Cancer Center of West China Medical University, operated on Lou. The patient survived, but Zhou said his life expectancy might not be as long as people whose cancers were detected earlier.

"The CT scan requires experienced radiologists, equipment and lots of funds," said Zhou.

Due to the lack of quality screening, most lung cancers are already at an advanced stage when they are detected. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans can help find some of these cancers early, which lowers the risk of death.

In 2009, China launched an LDCT screening program for people aged 50 to 74 in high-risk groups.

Zhou is leading the program carried out in six provinces and cities.

Using LDCT scans, 60 percent of the 20,000 people screened over the past three years were found to have cancer, said Zhou.

Lung cancer is particularly dangerous as it tends to spread before it can be detected using simple imaging tests such as a chest x-rays, Zhou said.

"The number of lives that surgery alone can save is limited, no matter how good you are as a thoracic surgeon. Therefore, LDCT as primary detection method is crucial. Surgery or chemotherapy, or radiotherapy is the last option," he said.

Dr Ranieri Guerra, director-general for Preventive Health with Italian Ministry of Health, warned that if "we don't invest in early detection efforts now, the health system worldwide will go bankrupt."

New immune oncological therapies and medicines are coming in the future but they will be very expensive, he said.

"The health system will not be able to sustain the financial cost. Only those who are rich will survive," he said.