Socioeconomic Disparities and Cancer
Do socioeconomic disparities limit the impact of proven preventive interventions in most countries?
Within countries, cancer mortality is often higher, and cancer survival lower, in groups with low socioeconomic status and other disadvantaged groups, for cancer overall and for most cancer types.
Even in high-income countries, socioeconomic disparities limit the impact of proven preventive interventions.
Recently Posted

Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention – Teaching Toolkit
This freely accessible online teaching toolkit is designed to support anyone involved in transmitting knowledge and skills on cancer research for cancer prevention. It includes modifiable Power Point slides, suggested quizzes and exercises, links to relevant data visualization tools, and useful references. The first module of the toolkit, “Rationale and Scope of Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention”, is now available.

Social Inequalities and Cancer – Self-paced module
Based on content from the World Cancer Report Updates webinar on Social Inequalities and Cancer, this flexible e-learning module includes lectures, questions and answers, and a quiz to test your knowledge on the latest evidence and emerging issues discussed during the webinar.
Keywords: drivers of inequality, root causes, cancer survival, population attributable fraction, Affordable Care Act, access to care.
Other Resources:
2020 World Cancer Report chapters
- Chapter 4.1. Inequalities between and within countries: Impact on cancer prevention
- Chapter 4.2. Socioeconomic factors and cancer prevention in Africa: Cervical cancer as an example
- Chapter 4.3. Cancer in urban and rural communities in China: Patterns reflect social dynamics
- Chapter 4.4. Socioeconomic factors and cancer prevention in India: Diverse interventions are needed
- Chapter 4.5. Variations in implementation of cancer screening in European countries: Striving for best practice
- Chapter 4.6. Disparities in cancer prevention services in the USA: A long-standing, persistent cause of inequity
- Chapter 4.7. Cancer in indigenous populations: Focusing on inequalities that are sometimes invisible
IARC Publications
IARC (2019). Reducing Social Inequalities in Cancer: Evidence and Priorities for Research, IARC Scientific Publication No. 168.
Scientific Articles
- Fidler M. M, et al. (2017). Assessing global transitions in human development and colorectal cancer incidence. Int J Cancer 140(12): 2709-2715.
- Franceschi S, et al. (2009). Differences in the risk of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus infection by education level. Br J Cancer 101(5): 865-870.
- Lortet-Tieulent J, et al. (2020). Profiling global cancer incidence and mortality by socioeconomic development. Int J Cancer 147(11): 3029-3036.
- Vaccarella S and F. Bray (2020). Are U.S. trends a barometer of future cancer transitions in emerging economies? Int J Cancer 146(6): 1499-1502.
- Vaccarella S, et al. (2021). Gender inequalities in cancer among young adults. Lancet Oncol 22(2): 166-167.
- Vaccarella S, et al. (2017). Cervical cancer in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia: Regional inequalities and changing trends. Int J Cancer 141(10): 1997-2001.
- Vaccarella S, et al. (2018). Reducing Social Inequalities in Cancer: Setting Priorities for Research. CA Cancer J Clin 68(5): 324-326.
- Vaccarella S, et al. (2020). Present and future of health inequalities: Rationale for investing in the biological capital. EClinicalMedicine 19: 100261.
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