Significant advances in lung cancer treatment and prevention have been seen during the past several decades. And yet, lung cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. These seemingly conflicting statements illustrate two realities: One of extraordinary scientific progress and another of persistent inequities.

While the field is advancing in early detection and developing treatments that would have been unimaginable a generation ago, factors such as where a patient lives, their working conditions, and the healthcare systems they have access to still determine whether that progress reaches them.

A key theme of this year’s World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), which will take place September 12 to 15 in Seoul, Republic of Korea, is “Science Without Boundaries: Uniting the World Against Thoracic Cancer.” José Luis Castro, FRSA, Director-General Special Envoy for Chronic Respiratory Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO), who will speak during the Opening Plenary Session, said that although science may cross boundaries, many patients still encounter them—whether these are boundaries of geography, affordability, political attention, or stigma.

His presentation will center on themes including prevention, patient engagement, and equitable access to care. He will also outline the WHO’s position on lung cancer as part of comprehensive cancer control and an integrated approach to lung health that spans the whole continuum: prevention, early education, accurate diagnosis, treatment, supportive and palliative care, and survivorship.

“This conference is an opportunity to bring the global voice of the WHO to the global lung cancer community. The lung cancer community has achieved remarkable scientific progress. Our next responsibility is to make that progress universal,” Mr. Castro said. “That means preventing what we can prevent, detecting the disease earlier, connecting diagnosis to appropriate treatment, protecting families from financial devastation, and listening to people living with the disease.”

“This conference is an opportunity to bring the global voice of the WHO to the global lung cancer community. The lung cancer community has achieved remarkable scientific progress. Our next responsibility is to make that progress universal.”

– José Luis Castro, FRSA

Lung Health Through a Global Policy Lens

During his presentation, Mr. Castro will provide a global policy perspective to an audience of researchers, clinicians, and advocates. A key message will focus on the WHO perspective. In the WHO’s integrated lung health approach, governments share a common framework.

The real test is how governments implement this at the national level to ensure measurable national plans, sustained financing, investments in primary care, and access to essential diagnostics and treatment.

Involving patients is a critical aspect of implementation. Mr. Castro said if people are not mentioned, they will not be measured; if they are not measured, they will not be managed; and if they are not managed, they will continue to be left behind.

“All these plans and resolutions need to include people—how diagnosis and treatment actually reach those affected by the disease,” Mr. Castro said. “I will urge the lung cancer community to be very vocal about this. It is the only way we will secure resources in national budgets to ensure that people affected by lung cancer have access to diagnosis and treatment.”

Centering Patients and Confronting Stigma

Mr. Castro will place special emphasis on patients and the importance of engaging them in various aspects of the response, stressing that patients need clear information, time to ask questions, protection from stigma, help navigating complex health systems, and a meaningful voice in decisions about their care.

“We frequently speak about placing patients at the center, but the center must not be just a place of observation; it must be a place of power,” Mr. Castro said. “People living with lung cancer must help determine what we research, what we measure, how services are designed, and which outcomes matter.”

“We frequently speak about placing patients at the center, but the center must not be just a place of observation; it must be a place of power.”

– José Luis Castro, FRSA

A lung cancer diagnosis often carries a stigma, which Mr. Castro says the community must collectively raise their voices against to address it. He stressed that those affected by lung cancer need treatment, not punishment or criticism. He also noted the importance of including caregivers and families when addressing stigma.

“We often speak about the disease or the patient, but there are also caregivers and others who care for these patients. They often must miss work and provide emotional and financial support,” Mr. Castro said. “They, too, suffer from stigma and isolation. When we speak about stigma, we need to include families and caregivers as well.”

Progress and Inequities in Lung Health

The ultimate test of any innovation is not whether it can be implemented somewhere; rather, it is whether it changes outcomes at the population level and reaches those who are currently being left behind, Mr. Castro said. Therefore, equity is a key issue that ranks very high on both the WHO agenda and the global lung cancer community agenda.

“Science increasingly knows how to prevent deaths, detect disease earlier, and extend life, but health systems do not make that knowledge equally available,” Mr. Castro said. “These inequities exist both between countries and within them. They follow familiar lines: income, geography, race, ethnicity, occupation, migration status, and so on.”

He will also discuss prevention, emphasizing that lung cancer is not only a concern for oncology clinics; it begins much earlier—in tobacco policy, air quality, working conditions, primary healthcare, and in the ability to recognize symptoms sooner.

“Scientific progress and population outcomes often move at two different speeds. Many people are still diagnosed too late. Many cannot access high-quality imaging, pathology, molecular testing, or treatment,” Mr. Castro said. “Others receive excellent clinical care but face devastating financial consequences. This tells us that lung cancer is not only a scientific challenge; it is a health systems challenge, and, therefore, a political challenge.”

An important step is to consider how to broaden access to these developments so that they reach and benefit more people. This is achievable with collaboration among stakeholders.

“The future will not be determined only by what we discover, but by what we choose to implement, what we choose to finance, what we choose to measure, and what we choose to hear,” Mr. Castro said.