Lung cancer on the global agenda: live from WHA

Welcome to the Lung Cancer Policy Network’s live blog from the World Health Assembly in Geneva. As global health leaders gather to shape the future of public health, we’re bringing you real-time updates and key developments on how lung cancer is being addressed on the world stage.
 

Friday 23 May

The World Health Assembly voted to adopt a new resolution on lung health. The resolution, Promoting and prioritizing an integrated lung health approach, sets out commitments for the World Health Organization and its Member States on a range of lung conditions, including lung cancer.

Read the Lung Cancer Policy Network’s full response here.
 

Wednesday 21 May

Today we were honoured to have participated in a roundtable that focused on effectively implementing the new resolution on lung health.

The discussion brought together global voices in the lung health community to explore the practical, collaborative efforts needed to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatments of respiratory diseases such as lung cancer.

Hosted by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the Lung Cancer Collaboration and the Malaysian Ministry of Health, the roundtable was a valuable opportunity to align on next steps and ensure the momentum behind this resolution leads to lasting change.

It was particularly encouraging to hear representatives from the WHO, Egypt, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Australia on the work they are doing on lung health.

The outcomes of the lung health resolution discussions will be published in the coming days and the Network will share a response when it becomes available. 
 

Tuesday 20 May

What a pleasure to connect with so many people across the lung health community and broader health policy community. Such a wide range of discussions, from global-level goals to debating what should be included in country-level key performance indicators. We’ve heard from representatives from a wide range of locations who are innovating to address workforce and technical capacity issues in lung cancer care, as well as the role that AI and digital transformation could play in widening access and improving efficiency.

There’s been so much to learn from, and we have repeatedly heard a key theme around the need to further enhance collaboration to enable the non-communicable disease community to accelerate action towards achieving targets, in the context of the growing incidence of cancer and persistent health system challenges.

We look forward to continuing meetings and discussions tomorrow, particularly at the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) event.

Reach out to Eleanor Wheeler or Helena Wilcox to set up a meeting in person.