Dr Elisabete Weiderpass, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) , Friday 1st December 2023

Over this century, cancer is set to become the leading cause of premature death worldwide, being the biggest barrier to increasing life expectancy. Whilst research efforts have focussed largely on treatments much is known about how to reduce cancer risk through environmental and personal actions. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)   estimates that the global cancer burden will rise from 19.3 million new cases in 2020 to 30.2 million in 2040. This is despite up to half of all cancer cases being avoidable. This rise will disproportionately impact low-and middle-income countries with a low Human Development Index.

In this lecture, Dr Weiderpass illustrates the great potential of prevention to invert the predicted trends in the future global cancer burden to reflect her vision of: “a world where fewer people develop cancer”.  The recording is available here