Abstract
People living in rural and remote areas continue to face significant inequities in cancer outcomes compared to their metropolitan counterparts. Despite advances in cancer control, these disparities persist across the cancer trajectory. This personal view consolidates findings from our Equitable Cancer Outcomes for Rural and Remote Communities series, highlighting survival disadvantages, challenges in measuring and reporting rurality, barriers to implementing evidence-based interventions, and shortcomings in historical policy. We argue for place-based, system-level reform that genuinely partners with rural communities, leverages local strengths, and embeds rural voices in research, policy, and service delivery. Key recommendations include adopting a formal partnership position statement to guide collaboration across sectors, strengthening rural data infrastructure, harmonising rural-urban classifications, tailoring implementation strategies, and prioritising geographical equity within cancer policy. Achieving meaningful progress requires coordinated cross-sector action and sustained investment in rural capacity. Equitable cancer outcomes will only be achieved by recognising and addressing the responsibility to deliver best practice care for all people affected by cancer, regardless of where they live.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Publication Title
Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific
Publisher
Elsevier
School
Exercise Medicine Research Institute / School of Medical and Health Sciences
Funders
Commonwealth of Australia’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRF2030313) / Victorian Cancer Agency / National Health and Medical Research Council
Grant Number
NHMRC Number : APP2017080
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Ugalde, A., Jongebloed, H., Wright, C., Rodi, H., Chapman, A., Marshall, S., Aras, D., Bergin, R. J., Boffa, S., Boltong, A., Conlin, M., Crawford–Williams, F., De Wet, C., Faisal, W., Gao, L., Gasper, H., Gunn, K., Hart, N. H., Hayes, T., . . . Alston, L. (2025). Towards equitable cancer outcomes for rural and remote communities: reflections, lessons and recommendations. The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, 66, 101756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2025.101756