Hadi Mohamad Abu Rasheed , Scientific Advisor and Director of Programs at Qatar Cancer Society, shared on LinkedIn:
“Cancer prevention is not only about knowing the risks. It is about deciding where to act first, translating evidence into policy, and making prevention work at population level.
Chairing the NCCM 2026 session on tobacco and emerging cancer risks brought together three complementary perspectives:
how we prioritise preventable cancer risks, how tobacco control must evolve as nicotine products change, and how cleaner air and safer workplaces can move prevention further upstream.
The first lesson was priority setting. Resources are finite, so prevention must consider burden, preventability, feasibility, equity and potential impact.
The second was the changing tobacco and nicotine landscape. Strong legislation matters, but its impact depends on implementation, surveillance, enforcement, cessation support and protecting younger generations.
The third widened the lens to air pollution, environmental carcinogens and occupational exposure. Cancer prevention must include the environments in which people live and work.
PM2.5 contributes to cardiovascular and respiratory disease as well as lung cancer, while workers may face recognised carcinogens such as silica, diesel exhaust, asbestos, wood dust and formaldehyde.
Many cancer risks cannot be reduced simply by asking individuals to make better choices.
That is also why the recent UICC report on clean air and cancer control is so relevant, reinforcing stronger emissions standards, cleaner energy and transport, better urban design, improved monitoring, and integration of air-quality action into national cancer control plans.
One message from the session stayed with me:
You cannot prevent what you refuse to count.
This is also where implementation science matters. The evidence for many preventive interventions already exists. The challenge is often closing the gap between what we know works and what is actually implemented, sustained and scaled in real-world settings.
For me, the key questions are:
- Which risks should we prioritise?
- Which interventions already have enough evidence to act on?
- What are the barriers to implementation?
- Who has the authority to act?
- And what measurable change should we expect by 2030?
That is how we move from understanding risk to reducing risk — and from evidence to effective, equitable and sustainable prevention at scale.”
You can also read: World Cancer Research Fund Launches New $130,000 Cancer Prevention Research Fellowship
