Primary prevention: a need for concerted action.

The burden of cancer is increasing worldwide, and Europe is no exception in this regard. Cancer incidence rate for men in 2018, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers, averaged over the 40 UN‐defined European countries has been estimated as 436/100 000. For women, the estimated incidence rate is 332.6/100 000. Although mortality rates are declining in most European countries, the total number of cancer deaths continues to rise due to an increase in the number of older people in the age range when the cancer typically occurs. The increase in incident cases and cancer deaths increases the pressure on healthcare infrastructure and related costs, thus presenting a challenge to health service sustainability in countries. In the general population, there remains a perception of an ever‐increasing cancer risk. Hence, treatment alone is not a solution to address the cancer burden. At the same time, recent estimates of preventable fractions of cancer suggest that about half of all cancer cases could be prevented through rigorous implementation of successful prevention measures, among other actions, by following the cancer prevention recommendations of the European Code against Cancer. Smoking alone explains almost half of all preventable cancers, and the scattered way of implementing tobacco control in Europe with still increasing numbers of lung cancers in women demonstrates the gap between prevention potential and effectively implemented prevention. Cancer prevention clearly needs more resources, stronger support from decision‐makers and society, and a solid network to better speak with one voice. The newly established 'Cancer Prevention Europe' (Forman et al.,) offers promising opportunities for the latter. The increasing number of cancers in Europe increases the pressure on health care infrastructure and related costs. About half of all cancers could be prevented through rigorous implementation of prevention measures. In this review we describe how with collaborative platforms such as "Cancer Prevention Europe", prevention tools such as the European Code against Cancer and more support from decision‐makers and society, prevention and its implementation could be strengthened and gaps in knowledge filled by enlarged research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]