IARC marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2024

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer type among women worldwide and the most common cause of cancer death in women. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to reduce the number of new cases of breast cancer and to save the lives of women who develop breast cancer. With IARC’s international partners and the World Health Organization (WHO), IARC scientists are working to uncover the causes of breast cancer, to understand how breast cancer progresses after it has developed, to introduce and improve breast cancer screening programmes tailored to local health systems, and to accurately record the burden of breast cancer worldwide.

In 2022, about 2.3 million new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed globally, and there were about 665 000 deaths due to breast cancer. Only one in five (20.2%) of the new cases occurred in countries with medium or low levels of the Human Development Index (HDI). However, more than one in three (33.8%) of the deaths occurred in these countries. This disparity reflects the many burdens that women face to access information and health care related to breast cancer.

Throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month, IARC will highlight some of the projects IARC scientists are leading that aim to tackle disparities, understand the mechanisms, and collect the data needed to ensure that fewer women and families suffer as a result of breast cancer and that fewer women die of this disease, which is the fourth most common cause of cancer death overall.

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