The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Nordic cancer organisations have collaborated under the umbrella of the Nordic Cancer Union (NCU) since 1949. The organisations collaborate to improve knowledge and understanding of cancer diseases, effective prevention, results of cancer treatment and rehabilitation; and to enhance their effective application in the Nordic area. An important part of the collaboration is to finance and stimulate Nordic cancer research of high quality. A special attention has been given to research in cancer epidemiology in order to increase understanding of the causes of cancer, cancer incidence and cancer diseases.

Methods: The unique Nordic environment is a favourable soil for collaboration in research and documentation within the cancer field. The Nordic countries have special preconditions for carrying out extensive representative studies of the population by involving the many databases and registries that exist in the Nordic countries. Also the fairly homogeneous population of approximately 25 million people provides an excellent material for comparative research.

Results: Cancer epidemiology is the basis for developing effective and goal-oriented prevention of cancer. A total amount of 5 million EUR will be allocated from the Nordic Cancer Union to cancer epidemiological strategic projects and research, to increase the knowledge on cancer problems and to solve them.