France’s ten-year cancer control strategy

Why France needs a long-term strategy

Reducing the burden of cancer requires actions well beyond the timeframe of a single programme or policy cycle. Prevention must change behaviours and living environments from childhood onwards; screening programmes must be strengthened; research and innovation must be translated into clinical practice; and lasting improvements are needed in survival, quality of life and health inequalities. Such transformations take time, require sustained investment and coordinated action across the health system and society. 

A ten-year framework provides the continuity and visibility needed to achieve such far-reaching change, while keeping all stakeholders aligned around stable national objectives. It also makes it possible to address prevention, screening, care, research, data and life after cancer as parts of the same continuum, rather than through a chain of isolated short-term measures.

The 2021–2030 strategy has been implemented through two successive five-year roadmaps, allowing progress to be reviewed at the halfway point and action to be adjusted or strengthened in response to emerging needs and scientific, demographic and technological developments. This combination of a clear long-term direction and regular reassessment is essential to deliver significant and lasting results.

Our 4 major ambitions

This ten-year cancer control strategy sets ambitious long-term objectives. It is structured around four strategic pillars:

1. Improve cancer prevention
2. Reduce sequelae and improve quality of life
3. Tackle poor-prognosis cancers
4. Ensure that progress benefits everyone

Our 5 priorities for the next 5 years

With five years to make a difference, the 2026–2030 roadmap sets out five priorities and identifies five priority groups, in order to step up action where it will be most decisive.

Five priorities

1. Build a prevention generation
2. Offer screening to everyone
3. Build an enhanced healthcare pathway
4. Bring the public cancer service to life
5. Unlock the potential of research and data

Five priority populations

1. Young people
2. People with disabilities
3. Residents of French overseas territories
4. Working people and employers
5. Older people