Our international work

In order to beat cancer faster, we need the networks, knowledge, experiences and perspectives of others. We also need to contribute knowledge and resources to strengthen the capacity of others where we are not active or can not achieve the same effect.

Collaboration and exchange of experiences and best practices with others contributes to a positive development and reduction of the global cancer burden but can also help create conditions for fewer people to be affected by cancer in Sweden and for Swedish patients to receive the best and most equitable care possible.

The Swedish Cancer Society collaborates with several different international actors, including UICC – the world's largest member organisation for cancer issues. Our Secretary General, Ulrika Årehed Kågström, is President of UICC from 2024 to 2026.

Inequity as a priority

One of the top priorities during the UICC-presidency will be to highlight and combat inequity within cancer treatment and care.

It is unacceptable that 7 out of 10 cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. But we also see inequities in Sweden. Not everyone has the same access to early detection and treatment, and this must change.

To drive the issue of inequities forward, Ulrika Årehed Kågström will, among other things, highlight both challenges and positive examples of how we can achieve increased equity across the cancer continuum.

There are many concrete and successful initiatives from around the world which can inspire the work towards beating cancer and combating inequities.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) also highly prioritised

AMR is another issue that is incredibly important globally.

Today, it is estimated that at least one in five cancer patients globally will need antibiotics during their treatment, and drug-resistant infections affect cancer patients disproportionately.

Effective antibiotics are a prerequisite for cancer treatment and care to continue to function, and AMR is a serious threat to successful cancer treatment and care.

Importance of work within the EU

Europe is currently home to a tenth of the world's population, but a quarter of the world's cancer cases.

Unless strong measures are taken, cancer cases in the EU are expected to increase by 24 percent by 2035. It will then become the most common cause of death in the EU. The total economic impact of cancer in Europe is estimated to exceed EUR 100 billion per year. This development affects us all.

The challenges are common and we can't beat cancer alone. European elections were held in June 2024, which means a new Parliament and a new Commission at the end of that year. Something that will affect the issue of cancer in the EU, as we will have a new Commissioner responsible for our issues.

Healthcare is the responsibility of each individual member state. That should remain the case, but the work currently underway within the framework of the EU's Health Union constitutes an important complement to national policies.

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

The Health Union includes ambitious work in the field of cancer, through Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, which aims to “turn the tide on cancer across the EU and create a healthier, fairer and more sustainable future for all.”

The plan focuses on the entire disease chain and focuses on four main areas: prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and improved quality of life for cancer patients and survivors.

The content of the EU Cancer Plan is therefore in line with the Swedish Cancer Society’s 2030 Strategy. If we are to achieve the ambitious goals of the EU Cancer Plan, we must engage in dialogue on how this can be accomplished in practice and enable a mutual exchange of knowledge between EU Member States.

The EU Cancer Plan and the EU's work in the field of cancer are a prerequisite for us to be able to drive development forward in the field of prevention, early detection, treatment and for all those with or have had a cancer diagnosis to experience a good quality of life.

Here political commitment is crucial. Therefore, we must all now ensure that the ambitious work that the previous European Commission started will continue during the next term.

The EU Cancer Plan contains a vision, but the power to act remains to be proven in the coming years. This responsibility lies primarily with the European Commission, the MEPs, but also with the respective member states.

Expert Committee for Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

In June 2023 the Swedish Cancer Society established an independent expert committee with a mission is to map, monitor and review the implementation of the EU Cancer Plan in Sweden.

The committee looks at, among other things, which measures are actually being implemented in Sweden and how Sweden makes use of the funding opportunities offered by the EU Cancer Plan.

It will also propose actions at EU, national or regional level that can help speed up the implementation of the plan in Sweden. The committee will also examine how Sweden is represented in, and takes part in, various EU-wide groups and initiatives linked to the cancer plan.

In April 2025 the expert committee released a report in which they presents their assessment of how well Sweden is meeting Europe´s Beating Cancer Plans objectives.

The report is based on an analysis of a selection of flagship initiatives and other key measures. Its purpose is to highlight both progress and shortcomings in the implementation, and to shed light on what is needed for Sweden to fully achieve the goals. The Committee has deliberately focused on the objectives considered most relevant in a Swedish context.

Read the report (in Swedish)

Tobacco

More research and knowledge is needed regarding the long-term health risks and harms of non-medicinal nicotine products. However, since these products are relatively new on the market, the long-term consequences will only be apparent in many years time.

The precautionary principle should therefore be applied both nationally and internationally to non-medicinal nicotine products.

The successful regulatory framework that has made cigarettes less attractive and available, such as bans on flavour and limited nicotine content, should also apply to non-medicinal nicotine products.

These measures would help protect children and young people from being tempted to start using the products, and in the long run reduce the risk of them starting to smoke.

Effective and robust measures to reduce tobacco and nicotine consumption are essential in order to reduce the number of people affected by cancer and other non-communicable diseases.

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan includes the goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2040, with less than five percent of the population using tobacco. To achieve this, it is crucial that the EU updates the Tobacco Products Directive and the Tobacco Taxation Directive.

Healthy diet and preventing obesity

In Sweden, as well as in many other European countries, the proportion of children and young people with unhealthy eating habits is increasing. It is not a sudden change in our eating habits but a gradual change in the society around us that has driven the increase, and the trend is continuing in the wrong direction.

The WHO is gauging that obesity may overtake smoking as the largest modifiable risk factor for cancer.

To improve our eating habits and prevent both obesity and cancer, efforts are needed at a societal level in creating a healthier food environment. Price, supply and marketing are some of the factors that control our food choices today.

The challenges of unhealthy eating habits are common to many EU countries and there is reason for the EU to make joint decisions to improve eating habits. The Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan identifies healthy diet as an important area.

HPV (screening)

One virus, HPV (human papillomavirus), is responsible for virtually all cervical cancer.

In 2020, the WHO decided to unite the world's countries around a common goal of eradicating cervical cancer. The most important measures that have been identified are vaccinations against HPV and screening for HPV.

Here, Sweden is well positioned in a global perspective, with an established program for screening and vaccination of girls and, from autumn 2020, also of boys. But adult women in Sweden today have not all received the vaccine in school. Therefore Sweden's regions offer all women born in 1994-1999 free vaccination against HPV up until July 2025.

An important step in the work to eliminate the HPV virus and eradicate cervical cancer.

The Swedish Cancer Society has been very active in the work to eradicate cervical cancer. During 2023 we met with political decision-makers in almost all 21 regions to conduct a dialogue on how we can work together to get more people to participate in the catch-up vaccinations. The message was clear: targeted efforts and new ways of working are needed.

In order to combat the differences in screening and HPV-vaccination participation, we have furthermore produced a guide compiling evidence-based tools in an easy-to-understand format. This guide aims to support proactive efforts to encourage more people in Sweden to attend cancer screening and catch-up HPV vaccination.

The target groups in the guide are women born abroad who reside in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, people in rural areas, individuals with disabilities, people with mental health conditions, long-term non-attendees of cancer screening, everyone called to attend cancer screening and catch-up HPV vaccination (women born between 1994 and 1999).

Viruses know no borders, and therefore it is important that the work to eradicate cervical cancer is a global mission. 

AMR

The Swedish Cancer Society has for many years worked to highlight the danger of AMR in cancer control and care.

In 2017, we played a pivotal role in advocating for the Union of International Cancer control (UICC) to address AMR more actively, and it has since become one of the UICC’s highest priorities.

More recently we have, in collaboration with the Swedish strategic program against antibiotic resistance (Strama), looked at the level of antibiotic prescriptions collected by patients with newly diagnosed cancer compared to the general population. The survey was published in May 2024 and showed that cancer patients in Sweden collect three times as many prescribed antibiotics than the general population.

Antibiotics play a crucial role in a large part of the cancer treatments that are carried out, which is why the issue of AMR is one of the major future issues in the field of cancer.

Today, it is estimated that at least one in five cancer patients will need antibiotics during their treatment, and drug-resistant infections affect cancer patients disproportionately. Effective antibiotics are a prerequisite for cancer treatment and care to continue to function, and AMR is a serious threat to successful cancer treatment and care.

Whether it is for surgery, chemotherapy or stem cell transplants, the availability of antibiotics is crucial for cancer treatment and care outcomes.

Today, the threat of AMR, is a major issue that needs to be urgently addressed to ensure effective cancer control. AMR spreads across borders, and efforts to address it must therefore be conducted both nationally and globally.

We are actively engaged in the importance of spreading awareness at the national level as well as advocating for the threat of AMR to be elevated on the international political agenda.

Ensuring access to effective antibiotics largely depends on global efforts in slowing down the development of resistant bacteria and developing new antibiotics.

Therefore, we must strengthen an already huge international commitment regarding AMR, and ensure everyone's right to effective antibiotics by working parallel in three areas:

1. Advocacy
   Ensuring that the issue of addressing AMR for better cancer treatment and care outcomes is high on the global health agenda.
2. Engagement of the health workforce
   Health care personnel are leaders in addressing this issue and have an active role in promoting attention to AMR, ensuring the appropriate use of medicines and strong infection control practice in medical settings, as well as provide key input to national policy on AMR.
3. Ensuring access to treatment
   Prioritising access to and rational use of antimicrobials and ensuring access to diagnostics.

Life science/clinical trials

In order to solve the most complex challenges in cancer research, international collaborations between academia, healthcare and industry are a prerequisite.

Cancer research in Sweden should be world-leading and of high quality. This means that Sweden needs to have an increased presence in the international arena, and in particular in the European arena.

It is necessary that Swedish researchers are given favorable conditions for international collaboration and exchange in order to promote new perspectives and ideas.

By actively participating in international collaborations, an environment is created where researchers can learn from each other, exchange best practices and benefit from each other's unique skills, as well as strengthen their professional networks.

Competition for skills between countries is high and Sweden needs to be an attractive country for various actors in life science so that they choose to conduct their research here. Good conditions such as excellent research environments, good access to health data and favorable working conditions for researchers are therefore crucial to being able to attract the most talented and prominent researchers.

Bilateral special cooperation agreements between Sweden and other countries also promote the exchange of knowledge and experience in research, one example of which is the Cancer Moonshot initiative, which has been signed between the governments of Sweden and the United States.

Clinical research is often the bridge between basic research and actual application in healthcare. However, healthcare research missions are often overshadowed by the mission to produce care and treatment.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the proportion of doctors with research degrees has decreased by more than 15 percent. At the same time, the business community points to both challenges and reduced interest in clinical trials in Sweden.

However, in order for more cancer patients to be offered better treatments and medicines, the number of clinical trials must increase and more patients must be given the opportunity to participate in clinical studies and trials – regardless of where in the country the patient lives.