By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population are expected to live in urban areas, with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) driving this growth. If we want to effectively tackle the growing cancer burden, cities must play a fundamental role. They provide a unique ecosystem to test and drive innovation in cancer care – meeting people’s needs from the ground up.

C/Can’s innovative, multi-sectoral framework supports cities in implementing changes that can be scaled up and replicated across health services. The C/Can model invests in enhancing connections between people, policies, and processes to build capacity and resilience. It convenes policy makers, healthcare providers, patient groups, and partners, creating communities to support the journey to self-reliance.

There are 13 cities currently working with C/Can on five areas of action: improving health information systems, developing health workforce capacity, catalyzing health financing, strengthening leadership and governance, and strengthening health service delivery.

Cities apply to join C/Can and be considered based on their commitment to fighting cancer, alongside other criteria. Once a city is accepted, they will work with C/Can to identify and engage stakeholders, assess their needs, develop solutions, and execute and sustain projects to improve cancer. A new call for city applications will be launched in 2023.

C/Can was launched by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) in 2017 and was established as a standalone Swiss foundation in 2019. You can find more information on C/Can’s approach and how to get involved here. Our Approach | Supporting Cities as Change Enablers – C/Can – City Cancer Challenge