WRAD shares lessons in global advocacy at the IASLC 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer
The World Radiotherapy Awareness Day (WRAD) movement was showcased at the IASLC 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer (‘World Lung’) in Seoul, South Korea. The event took place the week after the second WRAD on 7 September.
Sandra Turner, co-chair of WRAD, was invited to speak about ‘Building a Global Movement for a Cause’. She shared lessons from radiotherapy advocacy through Targeting Cancer, a radiotherapy awareness initiative in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the work of the WRAD team. She was asked what had been learned from this work and how these lessons could also help lung cancer advocacy.
Sandra shared eight key lessons that have helped build strong support for the campaign:
Start with ‘why?’ (and keep saying it)
Build your brand
Decide key messages, keep them simple, repeat them
Engage a coalition, not just an audience
Make it easy to belong and take action
Use media, keep messages simple
Patients are powerful collaborators
Start small and celebrate the wins
Many of these lessons could also be useful for lung cancer.
One important issue is that people with lung cancer, and their healthcare teams, may not fully understand the role of newer radiotherapy treatments such as stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).
For many people with lung cancer, SBRT can be an alternative to surgery with the aim of curing the cancer. It can also be more convenient, especially for older patients, people who want to reduce the time needed to recover from treatment, and those with poorer lung function.
In many cases, patients should be able to make an informed choice about their treatment, as they can with some other cancers such as prostate cancer. But they cannot make that choice if they are not fully informed about the options available.
As lung cancer screening grows across many countries, more small cancers that may be suitable for SBRT are likely to be diagnosed.
Other speakers in the session shared their work on the challenges of lung cancer stigma and on collaborations to improve diagnosis and care in different parts of the world. They then joined a panel discussion.
The event also helped WRAD make valuable new connections. These will be especially important as WRAD works towards its 2027 goal of building stronger advocacy partnerships with patients, survivors and patient groups. One of these new connections is with Lung Foundation Australia, which is keen to become a WRAD supporter.
