World Cancer Day Equity Report highlights barriers to cancer care

“Close the care gap” is the campaign theme of World Cancer Day 2022-2024. At least half of the world’s population cannot access essential health services and for many basic cancer care resources are not available.

Gender norms, race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, geographical location and physical or mental disability are often barriers to accessing cancer care even when the resources are otherwise available.

The reality, sadly, is that who a person is and where they live can mean the difference between life and death if they get cancer. It even affects their chances of getting cancer or being diagnosed at a later stage of the disease when it is harder to treat, as not everyone is exposed to the same information or has access to routine screening. 

To help better understand the impact of this reality, the World Cancer Day Equity Report, published by UICC with the support of Novartis, provides national perspectives and experiences from past and present UICC Board Members on inequities in cancer care in their respective countries and regions.

These include Western Pacific (Australia, Mainland China and Hong Kong), Southeast Asia (India and Malaysia), Europe (Sweden and the UK), Eastern Mediterranean (Lebanon, Turkey), Africa (Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa) and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico).

The authors also offer solutions as to how the gap can be closed by 2030. Only when every person, everywhere, can access quality cancer care, can health equity be achieved.