Scientific session – Cancer prevention that works: reducing cancer burden faster through multisectoral collaborations

We cannot treat our way out of the cancer problem*, and we definitely cannot prevent cancer alone.  At least 40% of all cancers can be prevented, and yet despite its potential benefit to improving health, wellbeing and positive impact on the society and economy, prevention has received less than 10% of the global cancer research funding. This has partially contributed to the slow progress to decrease the cancer burden. The aim of this session is to openly discuss the state of the art in cancer prevention taking a multi-sectoral and multi-partner perspective. The session will engage the WCC participants on a conversation with panelists on how we can successfully put forward prevention as part of the national cancer plans to ultimately reduce the suffering and premature deaths from cancer through evidence-informed, effective, policies. Presenters will provide a short overview of the preventable cancer burden, discussing the end-game policies for tobacco control and their impact on cancers. The session will then move into an interactive conversation which will explore how experience to control infectious agents such as HPV can be applied to other areas of cancer prevention. Challenges in the implementation of obesity control policies at national and sub-national will be shared followed by exploration of various legal instruments to facilitate and encourage population towards a healthier population and counter act commercial interests that continue to introduce new emerging cancer risk factors to populations.The goal is for participants to better understand the evidence, improve their awareness of evidence-informed policy options, how these policies are being implemented in different contexts and what the lessons learned are for the broader cancer community. The session is inteserctoral with multi-disciplinary experts from medical scientists to legal experts, from different world regions covering four continents, and different areas of primary cancer prevention bringing in experience in prevention of infection, tobacco smoking, obesity and health behavior.