WHO has released the 2026 Global Status Report on Cancer, which predicts that the number of new cancer diagnoses is projected to reach 35 million per year by 2050. One in five will develop cancer. When we account for the impacts of a cancer diagnosis on close family members, roughly 92% of all people globally will be affected by cancer at least once in their lifetime.
And WHO estimates of breast and childhood cancer survival show ongoing global inequalities: in high-income countries five-year net survival now exceeds 85%; in low-income countries it drops below 45%. Only 12 countries are on track to meet the target of reducing premature cancer mortality by one-third by 2030. It is clear that the global cancer story remains one of profound inequity.
But beyond the data, the power of this report comes from its inclusion of the voices of people living with and beyond cancer.
These personal experiences explore the complexity of the cancer experience, including its financial and legal impacts. They include heartfelt calls for better supports beyond treatment, which are echoed in countries around the worlds:
- As a caregiver, you have no formal rights; no protected time off, no structured psychological support. - Irmak Ozer, person with lived experience of cancer, Türkiye
- People diagnosed with cancer – in my case, radical mastectomy and thyroid gland cancer – should be granted disability pension! At my age, with all these problems, I don’t think I can return to work.
- Although our financial situation was relatively manageable, my husband had to stop working completely, and all our savings were spent within the first year, on housing and basic living expenses. During this period, I witnessed families living below the poverty line who were unable to afford even a room to stay in, some sleeping on the ground in front of hospitals in extremely harsh conditions, with no adequate support. - Batoula Abdeen, mother of a child with cancer, Syrian Arab Republic
- Anything to help with finances would be appreciated, whether its working with banks to help families with a mortgage/rent payment or helping with utilities, gas, food.
The McCabe Centre was proud to contribute to this report sharing information on how countries have amended laws and introduced social protections which can better support people affected by cancer around the world.
It is alarming that 48% of the global population are without any kind of social protection, 40% are not covered by a health protection scheme, 66% of the working-age population are not legally entitled to sickness benefits and 61% or 146 million people with severe disability do not receive any disability benefit.
This comes at a critical juncture: health and development funding is in flux, global health architecture is under reform, conflicts continue unabated, technological advancements are surging, while climate change is impacting more each day.
As this report outlines, the future of cancer control is still being written: it will be shaped by the choices we make together in defining what we value, what we measure, whom we listen to, and what we are willing to finance. This is an invitation to make those choices together, and to make them in a way that will deliver better outcomes for us all.
We share this call for a renewed global agenda which must value care as highly as cure, recognising that most people diagnosed with cancer will live with the disease rather than be cured of it.
And we are committed to a future where we work collectively to promote health, to offer the social protections that enable people to put recommendations into practice in their own lives, and to reduce the stigma that still deters people from seeking care and isolates those who receive a diagnosis.
See the 2026 Global Status Report on Cancer report here.