WHA79: what it meant for cancer prevention and what comes next

World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRFI) has been in official relations with WHO since 2016. We attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) every year, engaging with WHO, Member States and global health policymakers to advance our cancer prevention recommendations through meetings, side events, and Assembly discussions.

This year, WCRFI led a statement on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition and co-sponsored four statements led by NCD Alliance (on the follow-up on the High-level Meeting on NCDs, global architecture reform, the proposed economics of health for all strategy, and primary health care).

>  Read all of our statements from WHA79.

But notably: this year’s WHA felt different. Many people reflected on this throughout the week — across civil society, WHO staff, Member States,and advocates alike. With the Assembly split between the Palais des Nations and WHO headquarter buildings, this year we weren’t congregated in the same spaces, and the corridor conversations (planned or improvised) and connections that usually shape a WHA week were harder to come by.

The volume of side events was also notably higher than in previous years, pulling people into separate corners of Geneva, from breakfast meetings through to evening receptions. Several people remarked it felt more like a UN General Assembly week than a WHA one.

But, despite these differences, the core of WHA remained the same: a collective group of people from around the world demonstrating their commitment to address pressing issues and advance health globally. It’s because of this that I always leave WHA with a little more hope. And for those of us working on cancer and NCD prevention, there was real progress to take away, alongside the challenges that remain.

WCRF International at WHA79 – Elaine Green, Interim Head of Policy & Public Affairs, and Kendra Chow, Senior Policy & Public Affairs Manager

Prevention in national cancer control planning

For the cancer agenda, the activities actually started a few days before WHA opened. Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) held their second Cancer Planners Forum in Geneva (13–15 May), bringing together over 120 participants from 54 countries — including 45 government-appointed cancer planners from 42 countries.

Our newly published advocacy brief, Strengthening National Cancer Control Plans: Putting Prevention at the Centre, was shared with attendees. The brief sets out a straightforward but important case: around 40% of cancers are preventable, yet only 30% of national cancer control plans include comprehensive prevention measures, and three-quarters remain largely unfunded.

Getting that evidence into the hands of the people who develop and implement national plans is a direct route to shifting how cancer control is approached at country level, and a great way to put these messages front-of-mind for policymakers ahead of WHA.

The economics of health

As mentioned, this year’s WHA week lived up to its predecessors’ reputation of being a busy one. One of the headline outcomes of WHA79 was the adoption of WHO’s Strategy on the Economics of Health for All (2026–2030). The strategy positions health as an investment rather than a cost, and calls for it to be integrated into economic, fiscal, and industrial policy—not treated as a concern for health ministries alone.

WCRF International co-signed a statement led by NCD Alliance in support of the strategy, alongside UICC, the World Heart Federation, the International Diabetes Federation, and others. We welcomed its foundations in equity, sustainability, and social participation, and called for stronger attention to commercial determinants of health.

The commercial determinants driving consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy diets are increasing NCD rates globally, and any strategy on health economics that doesn’t address this gap is missing a significant part of the picture. Prevention advocates have long made the economic case for action; this strategy provides stronger footing for doing so across government.

Global health architecture reform: a missed opportunity on inclusion

Member States also agreed at WHA79 to establish a joint process to reform the global health architecture, with recommendations due at next year’s Assembly. The intent—a more coherent, better-resourced system that can respond to today’s health challenges—is a positive direction to move towards.

What is harder to reconcile is the decision to exclude civil society and people with lived experience from the Joint Task Force overseeing the process. As NCD Alliance noted, this contradicts commitments governments have already made under WHA Resolution 77.2 on social participation for Universal Health Coverage. Meaningful, equitable reform cannot be designed without the people most affected by the systems being at the table. We hope this is reconsidered as the process develops.

Misinformation, communication and Cancer Prevention Action Week

A pharmacovigilance resolution adopted at WHA79 flagged the spread of misinformation as an ongoing threat to public trust in health interventions — an issue that is extremely prevalent to cancer and cancer prevention, as much as any other health area. People are navigating a lot of conflicting information about cancer risk, and clear, evidence-based communication from trusted institutions matters.

June sees WCRF UK’s Cancer Prevention Action Week taking place and the theme – Science Not Fiction – is part of our response to that: grounded in the most comprehensive ongoing evidence synthesis on diet, weight, physical activity and cancer risk, and aimed at communicating what the evidence actually shows. Look out for next month’s blog for more information on the campaign.

Investment, implementation, and impact

As we move further down the road after securing the commitments in the Political Declaration on NCDs and mental health, and need to move closer to implementing them, the focus is shifting to what actually makes impact possible. Side events and conversations throughout WHA79 reflected this shift, with investment increasingly in focus ahead of September’s Third International Financing Dialogue on NCDs in Manila.

That Dialogue is the next critical moment for turning commitment into action. As NCD Alliance has underlined, the gap between what was promised and what is happening on the ground is fundamentally a financing gap. And post-WHA, the broader challenge remains getting these conversations beyond the health sector: into finance ministries, food systems, planning decisions, and all the other spaces that shape the environments in which cancer risk accumulates.

Other strong areas of focus across the week included tackling the obesity crisis, as well as growing recognition of mental health and its interconnectedness with NCDs—further illuminating the need to engage in multi-sectoral action to address these complex, multifactorial issues.

The pathway from investment to implementation to impact is not an easy one. What has been made clear this week is there is much work to be done—particularly in activating policy levers that can deliver on the Political Declaration’s commitments, while also being achievable and sustainable. This is where WCRFI plans to work more closely with governments on implementing NCCPs, with prevention serving as a strong foundation, to support these aims and continue movement along the path towards positive impact for cancer and NCDs worldwide.

• Read WCRF International’s advocacy brief, Strengthening National Cancer Control Plans: Putting Prevention at the Centre
• Read WCRF International’s statements delivered at World Health Assembly