Placing people at the heart of the global cancer agenda

For years, the story told about cancer has been a story of scientific progress: new technologies, more effective treatments and renewed hope.

That story is true, and it deserves to be told.

But it is not the whole story.

The Global Status Report on Cancer 2026, released by the World Health Organization in July 2206, seeks to tell the whole story for the first time. It is the most comprehensive assessment ever produced of where the world stands in preventing and controlling cancer. Beyond measuring disease burden and evaluating the performance of health systems, the report places people and their lived experiences at the centre of the global cancer agenda.

What emerges is a striking reality: while scientific advances have accelerated, the human experience of cancer has not always kept pace.

Progress worth celebrating

There have been substantial achievements in the global response to cancer.

Cancer is increasingly being destigmatized in societies where it was once rarely spoken about. More cancers are being detected earlier. Treatments are becoming more effective than at any point in history.

Global tobacco use has declined significantly over the past decade, helping to prevent millions of tobacco-related cancers. Cervical cancer, a disease that has disproportionately affected vulnerable women, is now on a credible pathway towards elimination in many settings and survival rates for several common cancers continue to improve.

These gains matter and represent millions of lives saved and improved.

Yet the new WHO report makes clear that progress remains uneven, and far too many people continue to be left behind.

In 2024, an estimated 20.6 million people were diagnosed with cancer worldwide. By 2050, that number is projected to rise to 35 million annually. While five-year breast cancer survival exceeds 85% in many high-income countries, it remains below 30% in numerous low-income countries. Premature cancer mortality is rising in dozens of countries, and only a minority of national plans include essential cancer services in their health benefit packages.

Behind these figures are real people, families and communities navigating financial, geographic, social and emotional hardships that rarely appear in headlines.

A global response shaped by lived realities

The report builds on growing calls from people affected by cancer to be included in decision-making.

Participants at the World Cancer Congress 2024
©WHO

One important milestone came during the World Cancer Congress 2024, where WHO convened 120 emerging leaders alongside people with lived experience through the initiative Co-creating priorities for Cancer 2030 with people affected by cancer. The goal was simple: ensure that future cancer policies are shaped not only by experts, but also by those who live with the consequences of cancer every day.

"People with lived experience had long asked to be an active part of policy making… they wanted, and policy needed, their direct input," said Eman Shanan, cancer survivor and founder of the Aid and Hope Program in Gaza.

Policies that fail to reflect lived realities inevitably produce systems ill-equipped to deliver appropriate services. The WHO report highlights significant systemic challenges, including underinvestment in prevention, unequal access to diagnostics and treatment, and insufficient social protections for people affected by cancer. These system-wide gaps are ultimately experienced at the individual level.

When geography determines survival

Where a person lives can profoundly influence whether they survive cancer. For people living in rural areas, accessing care often requires repeated long-distance travel or even temporary relocation to larger cities.

Although cervical cancer is largely preventable, and screening programmes exist for many cancers, access remains highly uneven. Delays in diagnosis continue to be driven by major deficits in diagnostic capacity, particularly in lower-resourced and rural settings.

"While diagnostic and treatment services are concentrated in urban areas, patients in rural regions often face a long and difficult care journey. Patients are forced to travel long distances repeatedly under challenging conditions just to access essential services," said Mohamed Belkadi of Morocco.

He added: "The gap between rural and urban cancer care is not merely a matter of geographic distance but reflects a deeper inequality in life chances."

These inequities become even more severe for displaced populations, migrants and Indigenous communities, who frequently encounter additional access barriers to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

"My house was destroyed… I could not obtain my medical papers," recalled one person displaced from Beirut to Jbeil, Lebanon.

The hidden cost of cancer

Cancer is not only a health crisis - it is often a financial crisis.

The report highlights that people at every income level can experience catastrophic health expenditures and financial hardship related to cancer. In some lower-income settings, treatment abandonment rates remain alarmingly high because patients simply cannot afford to continue care.

"The costs began to compound in ways no salary could absorb… savings dissolved within four months," said Dozie Akwarandu of Nigeria.

The burden extends well beyond patients. Family members often assume significant caregiving responsibilities, frequently while sacrificing employment, income and personal well-being.

Dozie Akwarandu

"I stayed with my daughter almost 24/7… it was a very heavy responsibility," said Alma Seidel of Mexico/Germany.

WHO's first global survey on lived experience, which gathered insights from more than 4000 people affected by cancer across 116 countries, found widespread psychological distress among both patients and caregivers. The findings reinforce a critical reality: cancer affects entire families, not only individuals.

Alma Seidel

The emotional and generational impact

Cancer's effects extend far beyond diagnosis and treatment.

Many people experience lasting emotional, psychological, and spiritual consequences that continue long after active treatment ends.

"Only now… I have realized how much burned out I am," said Andrea Ruano of Spain.

The impact can reverberate across generations. Children who lose parents to cancer face long-term emotional challenges, while family relationships and household stability can be fundamentally altered.

"Cancer… altered the emotional and psychological landscape of our entire family," said Annabelle Thomas of South Africa.

Andrea Ruano

When the effects on close family members are considered, cancer touches almost everyone. Whether through personal diagnosis or caregiving for a parent, spouse, sibling or child, the overwhelming majority of people will encounter cancer directly during their lifetime.

Beyond treatment: care, rehabilitation and survivorship

Even when treatment is available, many patients struggle to access essential supportive services such as pain relief, mental health care and rehabilitation.

For some individuals, cancer results in long-term disability and creates new barriers to participation in society.

"I am now a left below-the-knee amputee… people with disabilities also want to participate in life, not just survive," said Andrea Ruano.

The growing number of cancer survivors creates additional challenges. Survivorship is not simply the absence of disease. It includes physical recovery, psychological adjustment, social reintegration and long-term support.

"After finishing my treatment, I felt like I was dropped back into the world… I was barely asked about my mental health," Ruano said.

Ensuring social protection

A key message of the report is that defeating cancer requires more than clinical care. It requires social and financial protection.

Cancer can disrupt employment, education, income and family stability. People often lose livelihoods, exhaust savings and face difficult decisions between treatment and basic necessities.

"The cancer did not only invade my body; it invaded the walls of our home, the school fees I could no longer pay, the plate of food that was no longer enough," said Dozie Akwarandu.

The report argues that health systems must not only provide treatment, but also protect patients, families and caregivers from the broader consequences of the disease through stronger social support mechanisms.

Reconciling the two sides of the cancer agenda

The Global Status Report on Cancer 2026 presents two truths that must exist in the same conversation.

The first is the story of remarkable scientific achievement - -better prevention, earlier detection, improved treatments and improving survival rates.

The second is the lived reality of families disrupted, savings depleted, opportunities lost and trauma endured.

Both are true. Both matter.

The report calls on all stakeholders to implement key actions, coordinated around seven recommendations, in order to deliver, together, the three shifts needed in global cancer control: better capabilities, better protections and better value.

The recommendations are:

• embeding cancer control within health system strengthening and UHC;
• strengthening health systems capabilities for comprehensive cancer delivery;
• including people with lived experience in all cance-related decision-making;
• enhancing community-level health promotion on cancer and strengthen social protection;
• promoting alignment and transparency in global cancer care data;
• unifying the cancer agenda around equity-based, system-wide solutions;
• aligning research and innovation with public health priorities and the services needs of LMICs

Above all, the report emphasizes that cancer care must be designed with - and for - people affected.