Learning Lessons from Across Europe: Prioritizing Lung Cancer After COVID-19

In Partnership with Lung Ambition Alliance.

Lung cancer is the largest cause of cancer deaths across the world, and lung cancer care is significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. People with lung cancer are immunocompromised, and they have respiratory symptoms similar to that of COVID, making them more susceptible to coronavirus and more at risk of having a lung cancer diagnosis missed. For diagnosed patients, many reported avoiding treatment centres for fear of exposure to the virus. This is when treatment is available. During the height of the outbreak, many hospitals diverted their efforts exclusively to COVID-19 patients and cancer clinics suspended or limited services.

This report was developed to share the accumulated lessons learned from European countries during the peak of the pandemic and provide recommendations to address the short term impact to lung cancer care and long term system resiliency. There is an opportunity to emerge from this crisis better able to deliver care for lung cancer patients over the long term and hope this report contributes to those advancements.

The report was developed by the World Economic Forum, who, in partnership with the Lung Ambition Alliance, launched a COVID-19 Taskforce in early 2020 amidst the outbreak of the pandemic. Leading experts in health care provision, patient representation, policy and industry from across Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom) met regularly to discuss the current global healthcare environment and plan for the future in improving the resilience of lung cancer services.