Creating healthy environments through policy

We want all countries around the world to implement policies that help people follow our Cancer Prevention Recommendations.

Our Policy and Public Affairs Strategy for 2021–24 outlines what we want to achieve and how we plan to do this.

There are 3 main ways in which we encourage governments to design and implement policies to create environments that are conducive to living healthily:

  • We influence
  • We collate evidence and develop tools
  • We build capacity and disseminate knowledge

We achieve our aims in different ways. Some are outward facing, such as working with the World Health Organization through our Official Relations status. We support and work with relevant partners to share evidence and expertise, maximise impact, and to learn. We also work with our World Cancer Research Fund network partners to support their policy and public affairs priorities.

Informed by evidence, focused on outcomes

Underpinning all our work is a robust evidence base. We want countries to implement policies that are informed by evidence and well designed, as that way they are far more likely to have the desired impact.

Our NOURISHING and MOVING policy databases are a free-to-use evidence base of implemented diet and physical activity policies, to show what policies are in place, what works, and where. With more policies added every month, these databases are one of the go-to resources for policymakers, researchers and civil society around the world.

We also provide expert reports on key policy issues in the area of nutrition and obesity, called Building Momentum. These reports feature the advice and experiences of policy experts, and are designed to be practical to use and provide specific guidance on problematic policy issues.

Every month we publish a e-newsletter and blog, sharing all our latest news and global policy developments.

Cross-cutting approaches

We adopt a cross-cutting approach on areas that intersect with our priorities, which include:

  • Good governance and accountability
  • Climate change
  • Equity and equality
  • Human rights-based approach
  • Partnerships
  • Trade
  • Youth engagement and co-creation

What counts as success?

We take into account many measures of success: from the direct impact of our policy messaging to our influence on public policy and how much value people have gained from our frameworks, resources and tools.

Our main aim is to influence those working in policy design and development, and provide them with tools and information to help them create healthy environments.

> Download our Policy and Public Affairs Strategy 2021–24