Japan is losing its battle against cancer because it is failing on two fronts: getting people to quit smoking and getting them screened for cancer.

The National Cancer Center said Wednesday that the central government will probably miss its goal of lowering the cancer mortality rate by 20 percent over 10 years — to 73.9 per 100,000 people in 2015 — from 92.4 in 2005.

The new projection for the cancer mortality rate in 2015 is 76.7 per 100,0000 people — a reduction of 17 percent from the 2005 level, the center said.

The rate of smoking — by far the largest risk factor for cancer deaths — stood at 19.3 percent in 2013, making it unlikely for the nation to meet its own target of halving the rate to 12 percent over 10 years by 2015.

The government had also hoped to raise the screening rate to 50 percent for five major cancers — including stomach cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer — by 2016. In reality, the screening rates for none of the major cancer categories hit the goal by 2013.

In 2010, only 36.4 percent of women undertook breast cancer screenings, compared with 80.4 percent in the U.S., 75.4 percent in France and 74.1 in South Korea, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development statistics.

Japan's rate of cancer screenings for cervical cancer, at 37.7 percent in 2010, also lags behind the U.S.'s 85 percent, Germany's 78.7 percent and France's 71.1 percent.

To raise public awareness of cancer, which afflicts one in two people in Japan and is the cause of death for one in three, the government is organizing its first "cancer summit" in Tokyo on June 1.

There, lawmakers from across party lines as well as researchers will discuss what measures to take.

The participants will also include patient-group leaders, who will discuss how they want cancer treatments to be improved, a health ministry official said.

The event will also deal with the issue of how to better help cancer patients who have jobs. Japan had some 325,000 people juggling treatment and work, according to 2010 figures compiled by the health ministry.

Cancer patients are often forced to quit their jobs due to a lack of understanding from their workplaces on public support services available for their continued employment, the ministry said.