Closing the gaps in cancer prevention

Knowing how to prevent cancer is only half the battle. Making sure that knowledge actually works in real schools, clinics and hospitals is the other half – and that’s exactly what three newly funded research projects are now setting out to test.

This is important work. About four in ten cancer cases could be prevented, yet proven prevention methods – from HPV vaccination to stop-smoking support – don’t always reach the people who could benefit from them most.

Closing that gap is the aim of Reimagining Cancer Research in Europe, an initiative bringing together cancer charities and researchers from across the continent, coordinated through our long-standing partnership with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

At World Cancer Research Fund International and our network partner Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), we are proud to be supporters of this initiative – both as co-funders and members of its steering committee.

Rather than searching for new scientific discoveries, this programme funds what’s known as “implementation research” – studying the best ways to get prevention methods that already work adopted into everyday healthcare, in support of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and Europe’s Mission on Cancer.

In this latest funding round, three international research collaborations have been awarded a combined €1.49 million to test new approaches over the next two years:

• Preventing tobacco and vaping in schools (FRESHAIR4Schools) – researchers in the Netherlands and Poland are adapting a WHO-aligned tobacco- and nicotine-free school policy, a youth vaping-prevention programme and an eHealth quit-support tool for use in Polish secondary schools. The aim is to help protect young people from a habit that remains one of the biggest drivers of preventable cancer.
• Reaching women in wartime Ukraine (HPV-FASTER) – a team spanning France, Ukraine and the UK is testing whether combining HPV self-sampling, vaccination and counselling can help more women access cervical cancer screening and prevention, even in conflict-affected regions.
• Preventing ovarian cancer through simple surgery (STOPOVCA-Europe) – researchers in the Netherlands and Romania are working to roll out a proven Dutch approach – removing the fallopian tubes during other planned surgery, known as opportunistic salpingectomy – to help prevent ovarian cancer more widely across Europe.

These are still early days. Each project has up to two years to test and refine its approach.

Research Translation Manager at World Cancer Research Fund International,
Dr Vanessa Gordon-Dseagu, said:

“Nearly four in ten cancers could be prevented. That’s the opportunity UICC’s newly funded international research collaborations are seizing. The three projects are pushing forward our understanding of how to stop cancer before it starts, from tackling tobacco use to preventing cervical and ovarian cancers.

“By finding better ways to prevent, detect and diagnose cancer early, this work will help life-saving interventions reach more people, more consistently, to improve the health of communities across Europe and beyond.”

World Cancer Research Fund has been a partner of UICC for many years. Our partnership includes collaboration on scientific papers, global advocacy on cancer – including contributing to WHO statements and membership of the UICC global advocacy advisory group – and participation in the UICC World Cancer Leaders’ Summit and World Cancer Congress. We’re also members of the UICC Cancer Prevention Network, contribute to the International Cancer Control Partnership portal and support UICC’s World Cancer Day.

Co-funders: This initiative is co-funded by World Cancer Research Fund International, Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), the Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden) and the Danish Cancer Society, with scientific input from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, part of the World Health Organization).