Introduction

The Cancer Atlas aims to open readers’ eyes to the global scale and impact of cancer, covering the extent and magnitude of the disease, the major causes, and the different ways the disease can be prevented and treated. As with previous editions, this fourth edition of The Cancer Atlas is grouped into three sections namely Risk Factors, The Burden, and Taking Action, with additional chapters to address timely and emerging important topics including Climate Change and Health System Resilience.

The first section, Risk Factors, highlights regional and international variations in major risk factors for cancer, including tobacco use, infection, excess body fatness, and ultraviolet radiation. Tobacco smoking continues to be the predominant cause of cancer in most high-income countries, while infection still plays a major role in many sub-Saharan African and Asian countries. The importance of excess body fatness as a major risk factor for cancer continues to escalate in most parts of the world, including many economically transitioning countries. New chapters in the section on risk factors include alcohol consumption, a major preventable cause of cancer, for which public awareness remains low, and climate change, which increases heatwaves and harmful sun exposure, exacerbating the burden of skin cancer, as well as the frequency and magnitude of related events, such as hurricanes and wildfires that disrupt the delivery of care. Finally, there is also a new chapter on the social inequalities that impact an individual’s risk of developing cancer and their access to cancer care, contributing to broader health disparities across populations.

The second section, The Burden, describes the geographic diversity in cancer occurrence worldwide and, in separate chapters, for each of the major world regions overall and for select major cancers. This burden is also described in terms of the national Human Development Index, the primary measure of a country’s societal and economic development used in The Cancer Atlas. New chapters have been added to describe the geographic diversity of colorectal cancer for which incidence is rising among young adults in many countries; liver cancer, a leading cause of cancer death in several parts of Asia and Africa; and cervical cancer, the leading cause of cancer death among women in many sub-Saharan African countries and the focus of a World Health Organization-led global strategy aimed at accelerating its elimination as a public health problem.

The final section, Taking Action, describes major interventions across the cancer continuum, from the prevention of risk factors to early detection, treatment, and survivorship and palliative care, highlighting disparities in the availability and implementation of these interventions across the world. It also portrays the multiple organizations working in cancer control, alongside policies and legislation that seek to reduce the burden of cancer and other non-communicable diseases at the population level. This section also includes a new chapter on health system resilience to improve cancer control during a pandemic and large-scale conflicts.

In summary, The Cancer Atlas is intended to deliver an evidence-base of the global essentials of cancer using a format that is easy to grasp. This resource, which is available in print and digital formats (https://canceratlas.cancer.org/), was carefully designed to ensure user-friendly, accessible, and downloadable descriptions and graphics that can be easily used by cancer-control advocates, government and private and public health agencies, and policymakers, as well as patients, survivors and the general public. The Cancer Atlas is an illustrative guide to cancer’s diversity and disparities, but also a positive vehicle for the promotion and delivery of cancer prevention and cancer control worldwide.