SYRI and NCRI are organising a seminar on cancer prevention

Cancer is responsible for one in five deaths in the Czech population. Roughly one in 13 Czechs lives with the disease, amounting to roughly 800,000 people. Yet early detection of a tumour increases the likelihood of full recovery by tens of percent. This is why oncological prevention will be the focus of a professional seminar organised by the SYRI National Institute together with the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) on 28 April in Brno.

The seminar will offer six topics. Among them, for example, a look at the issue of existing barriers to participation in screening programmes in the Czech Republic. Indeed, the barriers and challenges to cancer prevention are in the title of the event.

“I see the joint seminar with the National Cancer Research Institute as the beginning of an important collaboration. Social scientists have a unique perspective and expertise that complements medical knowledge," said Klára Šeďová, Scientific Director of the National Institute of Social Research.

Cancer research, which accounts for approximately 25% of all biomedical research in the Czech Republic, has a long-standing tradition in the country, according to Aleksi Seda, Director of the National Institute for Cancer Research. "The aim of the NICR is to help coordinate and maximise the use of the available research infrastructure and the human potential we have in the individual centres. The meeting of biomedicine and social sciences at the seminar in Brno represents a logical interdisciplinary intersection, which also opens up the possibility of connecting with the research of our colleagues from SYRI," Šedo said.

On average, more than 100,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the Czech Republic every year. According to statistics from the Institute of Health Statistics, cancer was responsible for 27,920 deaths in 2023. How early on the tumour is detected in the body is crucial for a successful cure. For example, colorectal cancer has a 90% chance of being cured if detected early. For late-stage cancer, the chance is 15 percent.

Link to the event: Barriers and challenges to cancer prevention: An interdisciplinary view