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Cancer prevention includes public policies based on scientific evidence, education on prevention and healthy lifestyles, and actions taken to reduce the risk of developing cancer.
ESMO promotes cancer prevention within its mission to improve the quality of cancer care and reduce the number of deaths from cancer. The global cancer burden is expected to rise to 29.5 million cases and 16 million deaths by 2040, making it necessary to intensify cancer prevention efforts to bring those numbers down. If 40% of cancers are preventable, then theoretically we can reduce the number of new cases in the next 20 years from 29.5 million to 17.8 million, saving almost 12 million lives.
Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and its specialised cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), provide evidence-based research and guidance on the causes of cancer and how to prevent it.
WHO has published its first-ever WHO Report on Cancer: Setting priorities, investing wisely and providing care for all, to raise awareness that cancer is a preventable and controllable public health priority globally, and there are effective public health strategies for evidence-based decision-making.
Every 5 years, IARC publishes its World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention, emphasising that prevention offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for cancer control. The IARC report provides the most up-to-date science on cancer, while the WHO report indicates how that science can be translated into public policies.
ESMO is supporting IARC in the development of their online learning platform which integrates all research for cancer prevention in one website portal. The content is freely available to everyone and is based on the latest IARC World Cancer Report published in 2020. Read more about this partnership here.
ESMO education material to help stakeholders to better understand cancer prevention.
Highlights recommendations for public policies on cancer prevention from European institutions, the IACR, the WHO, and other organisations.
A series of resources produced by ESMO and independent sources to address patient concerns regarding biosimilars.
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