WHO and IARC: 10 years of collaboration to control cancer
20 December 2023 – WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) continue to work together to improve cancer surveillance systems in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The aim is to improve reporting and surveillance systems and the quality of cancer-related data – ultimately to contribute to cancer control. Such efforts support the millions of people in the Region at risk of or living with cancer.
IARC and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean have just celebrated 10 years of collaboration to support cancer surveillance in the Region. In their sights for the next decade are further improvements in both cancer data and cancer control across the Region’s countries and territories.
The 10-year milestone was marked at a workshop on cancer data use to inform cancer control planning, which was co-hosted by IARC and the Regional Office and held at the latter’s premises in Cairo, Egypt. The participants were experts from cancer registries, and noncommunicable diseases programme focal points based at health ministries across the Region.
The workshop focused on details of the planned programme of work on causes of cancer in the Region. This is one of the priority areas set out in the WHO Regional Office–IARC 5th Joint Action Plan 2023, in terms of cancer surveillance and risk factors. The Joint Action Plan’s focus is on co-development, training and knowledge exchange to support national
