Population-based cancer survival estimates provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of cancer services, and can reflect the prospects of cure. The International Cancer Survival Benchmarking website brings together three international landmark projects: SURVMARK-2 (Cancer Survival in High-Income Countries), SURVCAN-3 (Cancer Survival in Countries in Transition), and SURVPOOL (A Consortium on Risk Factors and Cancer Survival), providing a comprehensive view of cancer survival, alongside incidence and mortality, in high-income countries and countries in transition.

Based on a multidisciplinary partnership, the International Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP), ICBP-SURVMARK-2 project provides comprehensive and up-to-date cancer survival statistics in seven high-income countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom) with similar high levels of access to health care. It also seeks to explore the influence of international classification, coding of cancer, and registration practices on survival differences.

The SURVCAN-3 project aims to expand the global coverage of high-quality survival statistics in countries in transition. More than 50 population-based cancer registries in low- and middle-income countries are expected to participate. The project features local capacity building to enhance expertise in collecting survival data to inform cancer care.

The objective of the SURVPOOL project is to build a consortium of cohort studies with the aim of exploring the role of lifetime exposure to modifiable risk factors, such as obesity, in cancer survival. This project will expand the evaluation of known cancer risk factors beyond considerations of causes of cancer into prognosis after cancer diagnosis.

Together these projects will increase our understanding of explanatory factors of the observed disparities, to move towards better outcomes for all after cancer diagnosis. The projects are flexible in that they may permit additional countries or institutions to join these initiatives; please contact us at survival@iarc.fr.