The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO), and has 19 member states. Norway has been a member for 20 years, and Lars Erik Hanssen wishes to lead the discussion about the agency's future goals.
"When I was elected chair at the IARC there was also expressed a wish that I should ensure an active debate about what we should focus our efforts on," said Hanssen, who is the director general of health at the Norwegian board of health. "I have been and will continue to be an active participant in this debate. IARC has limited resources, which is why strategic work is of such importance. It is crucial that we focus our work on projects where IARC can represent an added resource."
Hanssen also pointed out that Norway has been a pioneer in cancer research, and the Cancer Registry of Norwegian has played an important role in the IARC's cancer registration work. Registration of cancer cases is one of IARC's main focus areas and the registry in Norway has been operational since 1953. In Norway one is obligated by law to report any cancer cases to the registry, hence making it complete and a high quality database for sound research results. The Norwegian Cancer Registry has been used as a model for the implementation of similar systems in other countries.
Two of the issues that Hanssen wishes to prioritise in the near future are a study of hepatitis B vaccines' preventive impact on liver cancer in Gambia, and taking a closer look at the links between alcohol and cancer.