All.Can International welcomes the call issued yesterday by G7 leaders at the Évian Summit, reaffirming their commitment to accelerate action on cancer and bringing together a broad coalition that includes partner countries Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya and the Republic of Korea.
The scale of the challenge is not in dispute. Cancer kills nearly 10 million people each year worldwide, and new cases are projected to rise by 80 per cent globally by 2050. What yesterday’s declaration signals is a shared recognition, at the highest level of political leadership, that existing efforts must be better aligned, better resourced and more swiftly translated into benefit for patients.
All.Can is encouraged by three aspects of the call in particular. The commitment on paediatric and adolescent cancers, and the explicit acknowledgement that no single country holds sufficient data to generate robust evidence across the full range of tumour types, points directly to the kind of international collaboration that All.Can supports through its work and partnerships. The focus on cancers with poor prognosis, including an ambition to significantly reduce lung cancer mortality within a decade, is a welcome signal that leaders are prepared to set measurable targets. And the commitment to strengthening access to quality cancer care for all reflects what All.Can has consistently argued: that advances in oncology deliver value only when health systems are structured to deliver them efficiently, equitably and in ways that centre the needs of people living with cancer.
This last point deserves emphasis as governments move from declaration to delivery. Research excellence and care quality are not separate agendas. The evidence gathered through All.Can’s work across more than a dozen countries shows that person-centred, well-coordinated cancer care generates better outcomes and more efficient use of health system resources. That evidence base is directly relevant to the implementation commitments now being made by G7 nations.
All.Can looks forward to engaging with the follow-up to this call and to contributing the experience of our global network as these commitments are translated into policy and practice.