This atlas shows the relationship between water pollution and cancer in the Huai River Basin in China over the last 30 years. Drawing on a five-year study conducted by the China Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Professor Gonghuan Yang & Dafang Zhuang present a spatial and longitudinal analysis of regular pollution monitoring and disease surveillance data. A review of variation in trends in the causes of death in the Huai River Basin over the past 30 years shows that precisely those areas which were the most seriously polluted for the longest time were the areas with the highest increase in digestive cancer deaths – several times that of the national average increase for the respective cancers. Spatial analysis shows a high level of correspondence between the seriously polluted areas and areas with high mortality from cancer, the most important finding in the atlas.

Dr. Gonghuan Yang is a Professor at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. She serves as Director of the Center of NCD & BRFS of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing, China. She is an expert on Public Health and an epidemiologist focusing on chronic non-communicable diseases.

Dr. Dafang Zhuang is a Professor at the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. He is an expert of geographical information system and its application in correlating public health with environmental changes.