Implementation research study on the appropriateness, acceptability and feasibility of a Latin American and Caribbean Code Against Cancer in Colombia

Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partner institutions have completed a study of the perceptions of the appropriateness, acceptability, and feasibility of a Code Against Cancer for Latin America and the Caribbean among primary care physicians, decision-makers and programme managers, and participants from the general population in Colombia. The results were published in the Pan American Journal of Public Health.

A total of 70 participants were recruited, including 14 decision-makers and programme managers, 16 primary care physicians, and 40 members of the general public, and their responses were collected using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Primary care physicians had clear ideas about the recommendations for cancer prevention, but the general public associated certain recommendations with general healthy lifestyles rather than with cancer prevention specifically. Although decision-makers, programme managers, and primary care physicians did not see it as a priority or as significantly more valuable than existing national alternatives, a Code Against Cancer for Latin America and the Caribbean was perceived as an appropriate, acceptable, and feasible tool for cancer prevention that would be compatible with Colombia’s policy and health system environments. However, no urgent need for its implementation was discerned. The study was carried out between 2020 and 2023. IARC and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched the first edition of the Latin America and the Caribbean Code Against Cancer in October 2023.

García-Padilla P, García-Padilla D, Betancourt N, Arrossi S, Espina C, Murillo R
Appropriateness, acceptability and feasibility of a Latin American and Caribbean code against cancer in Colombia
Pan Am J Public Health. Published online 21 November 2025;
https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2025.111

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Read the Latin America and the Caribbean Code Against Cancer