IARC marks Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2025

Global estimates and awareness focus

Childhood Cancer Awareness

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2025 was marked by IARC with updated global statistics and a call for action.

More than 275,000 children and adolescents aged 0–19 are diagnosed with cancer each year worldwide, with leukaemias, lymphomas, and central nervous system tumours the most common. While survival exceeds 80% in high-income countries, it remains below 30% in low- and middle-income countries, showing extreme inequities.

Cancer Registration

IARC emphasised the need for better cancer registration, accurate diagnosis, and more inclusive global research. The announcement also drew attention to ongoing IARC projects focused on environmental exposures and genetic risk factors in paediatric cancers. The message underlined that childhood cancer must be treated as a global health priority, not just a disease of high-resource countries.

#EuCanScreen #CancerScreening #HealthCare #CancerPrevention #ChildhoodCancerAwareness

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Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor HADEA can be held responsible for them.

The general objective of EUCanScreen is to assure sustainable implementation of high-quality screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, as well as implementation of the recently recommended screening programs – for lung, prostate and gastric cancers. EUCanScreen will facilitate the reduction of cancer burden and achieving equity across the EU.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s EU4HEALTH Programme under the Grant Agreement no 101162959