Cancer Prevention: How Everyday Choices and Public Policy Can Save Lives
Explore evidence-based cancer prevention strategies, from vaccines and screenings to healthy choices, and examine how schools and public policy can reduce risk.
Introduction
Cancer is often discussed as a disease that strikes without warning. Genetics, age and chance play important roles, but they’re not the only factors. Scientists estimate that a significant share of cancers could be prevented by reducing exposure to known risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, ultraviolet radiation and certain infections.
In February 2026, the World Health Organization reported that as many as 2 in 5 cancer cases worldwide could be prevented. In the United States, the American Cancer Society estimated that about 44 percent of projected cancer deaths in 2026 are associated with potentially modifiable risk factors.
What can individuals do to lower their risk, and how much responsibility should schools, health systems and governments bear for making cancer prevention possible?
Cancer Prevention Starts Before a Diagnosis
Cancer is not one disease but a large group of diseases in which abnormal cells grow uncontrollably. Although no prevention strategy can eliminate the possibility of developing cancer, people can reduce their risk in several evidence-based ways.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol, staying physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, protecting skin from excessive ultraviolet exposure and receiving recommended cancer-preventing vaccines. Screening can also identify certain cancers early, when they may be easier to treat, and in some cases detect and remove precancerous changes before cancer develops.
Vaccination is another powerful prevention tool. Human papillomavirus, or HPV, can cause cervical, anal, penile, and several head and neck cancers. The HPV vaccine prevents new infections with the virus. The hepatitis B vaccine can also reduce the risk of liver cancer by preventing chronic hepatitis B infection.
Screening recommendations vary based on a person’s age, health history and individual risk. For example, updated American Cancer Society guidance continues to recommend that adults at average risk begin colorectal cancer screening at age 45. People with a family history, genetic condition or other elevated risk may need to begin certain screenings earlier.
Prevention Requires Access and Trust
Knowing how to reduce cancer risk is not the same as being able to act on that knowledge. Some people cannot easily take time off work for medical appointments, while others may lack health insurance, transportation, a regular healthcare provider, or access to healthy food and safe places to exercise. Language barriers, medical mistrust and confusion about changing screening guidelines may also prevent people from obtaining preventive care.
Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and public health physician whose work includes lung health and cancer research, has emphasized the importance of translating preventive-health information into practical guidance for patients, families and employers. Patients cannot benefit from a vaccine they cannot obtain, a screening appointment they cannot reach or health guidance they do not understand. Dr. Gupta’s broader public health work focuses on translating complicated medical information into practical guidance that families, educators and communities can use to make informed decisions.
Key Discussion Points
1. What Can People Do?
Evidence-based cancer prevention measures include:
- Avoiding cigarettes and other tobacco products and reducing exposure to secondhand smoke.
- Limiting or avoiding alcohol.
- Eating a nutritious diet and staying physically active.
- Maintaining a healthy weight without blaming or stigmatizing people for their bodies.
- Using sunscreen, seeking shade and avoiding indoor tanning.
- Receiving recommended HPV and hepatitis B vaccines.
- Discussing appropriate cancer screenings and family history with a healthcare professional.
- Paying attention to persistent or unusual bodily changes and seeking medical advice when something does not seem right.
These actions can lower risk, but they cannot guarantee that someone will never develop cancer. Cancer should never be treated as a personal failure.
2. Why Does Prevention Matter?
The American Cancer Society projects about 2.1 million new cancer diagnoses and more than 626,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. in 2026. Prevention and early detection can reduce deaths, lessen the physical and emotional burden of treatment, and help families avoid major medical expenses.
Prevention can also address health inequities, but only when services reach the people facing the greatest barriers. Community health centers, mobile screening programs, school-based vaccination initiatives and paid leave for medical appointments are examples of approaches that can make prevention more accessible.
3. What Should Communities Do Next?
Effective cancer prevention requires cooperation among individuals, families, schools, clinicians, health plans, employers and governments. Communities can provide accurate health education, make recommended vaccines readily available, create smoke-free environments and connect residents with affordable screening services.
Schools can help students learn how to evaluate health claims without placing responsibility for cancer entirely on individuals. Policymakers can also reduce exposure to cancer-causing substances, support preventive-care coverage and invest in trusted community organizations that help people navigate the health system.
Discussion Questions
- Why might the phrase “preventable cancer” be both useful and potentially misleading?
- Which cancer-prevention measures depend primarily on individual decisions, and which require support from institutions or government?
- What barriers might prevent someone from receiving a vaccine or recommended cancer screening?
- How can health professionals build trust with communities that have experienced discrimination or poor treatment within the healthcare system?
- Should employers be required to provide paid time for preventive health appointments? Why or why not?
- How can schools teach cancer prevention without stigmatizing people who develop cancer?
- What responsibilities do social media platforms have when users share inaccurate claims about cancer prevention or treatment?
Media Literacy Extension
Ask students to locate two social media posts or news stories about cancer prevention. For each source, consider:
- Who created the content, and what qualifications does that person or organization have?
- Does the claim refer to a scientific study or recognized health organization?
- Does the headline promise certainty, a “miracle” cure or a simple way to eliminate cancer risk?
- Is the content selling a product, supplement or service?
- Do credible sources such as the CDC, National Cancer Institute or American Cancer Society support the claim?
- Does the story distinguish between reducing cancer risk, detecting cancer early and treating an existing cancer?
Students should then rewrite one misleading headline so that it reflects the evidence more accurately.
Classroom Activity: Design a Community Prevention Campaign
Divide students into small groups and ask each group to design a cancer-prevention campaign for a particular audience, such as teenagers, educators, rural residents, healthcare workers or adults without a regular doctor.
Each campaign should:
- Identify one evidence-based prevention or early-detection measure.
- Explain why the issue matters to the selected audience.
- Identify at least two barriers that may prevent people from taking action.
- Propose a realistic solution that a school, employer, health system or government could implement.
- Create a poster, short video, social media post or public-service announcement using clear and nonjudgmental language.
- Cite at least two reliable health sources.
After presenting their campaigns, students can discuss which messages were most persuasive and which proposed solutions would be most realistic.
Conclusion
Cancer prevention is not about guaranteeing perfect health or assigning blame. It is about using the knowledge available to reduce avoidable risks, identify disease earlier and give more people the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives.
People can make meaningful choices, from avoiding tobacco to obtaining recommended vaccines and screenings. But those choices take place within communities that determine whether trustworthy information, healthy environments and preventive health services are genuinely accessible. Preventing cancer therefore requires both personal action and a public commitment to ensuring that everyone has a fair opportunity to protect their health.
Vital Lessons: Health Chats with Dr. Vin Gupta
Join Dr. Vin Gupta—pulmonologist, public health expert, and professor—for a yearlong series offering expert-led webinars, blogs, resources, and Q&A sessions on pressing health issues to help AFT members and communities stay informed and healthy. Access all on-demand town halls and register for the next one.
Amanda Eisenberg is the editorial lead for The 80 Million, a Medicaid newsletter powered by Manatt Health. She also supports Dr. Vin Gupta in his work with the American Federation of Teachers. In her free time, Amanda enjoys walking around New York City and reading. She's also the author of PEOPLE... See More
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