Making the Case for Policy and Action

The purpose of this and the other presentations in this session is to put the prevention and control of cancer and other chronic diseases into a broad public health context, where they belong. The immediate causes of infectious diseases are different from those of chronic diseases. However, strategies to prevent and control both types of disease, at all levels, should have much in common. Treatment of some common cancers is increasingly effective, but everybody would prefer to avoid a diagnosis of cancer. There is much that people can do to reduce their risk of cancer. But there is a limit to what even the most privileged people can do by themselves, and the choices of impoverished communities are restricted. The 2009 WCRF/AICR Policy Report, and its 2010 executive summary for the USA prepared in partnership with APHA, take into account climate change, economic globalization, the impact of transnational corporations on food systems, and other big issues. These now also include a renewed affirmation, in the USA and other nations, of the responsibility of governments to protect the health of their people. The 2009 Policy Report and its US executive summary conclude that concerted collaboration between all relevant actors, including industry, is required. There is an urgent and imperative need to make the whole concept of cancer control much broader. The prevention of cancer in the USA, and internationally, is as great a challenge and opportunity as that faced in Europe by the public health pioneers of the mid 19th century.