THE GLOBAL CANCER OBSERVATORY
The World Cancer Observatory (GCO) is an interactive web-based platform that presents global cancer statistics to inform cancer control and research. The platform focuses on the visualization of cancer indicators to illustrate the changing scale, epidemiological profile and impact of the disease around the world, using data from several key projects of the IARC's Cancer Surveillance Section (CSU), including GLOBOCAN; Cancer incidence in five continents (CI5); International Incidence of Childhood Cancer (IICC); and Cancer Survival in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America (SurvCan).
The data presented in the World Cancer Observatory are the best available for each country in the world. However, care must be taken in interpreting the data, recognizing the current limitations in the quality and coverage of cancer data, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Our approach is not just to use the collected data, but to work alongside national staff to improve local data quality, registry coverage, and analytical capacity.