LATEST NEWS: 10 June 2026

The global radiation therapy community is gearing up for World Radiotherapy Awareness Day (WRAD) on 7 September, to spread the word about the vital role of radiotherapy in treating cancer and the need for it to be made accessible to all people who can benefit from it.

TROG member Prof Sandra Turner, Founder and Co-chair of the World Radiotherapy Awareness Day Committee, said the 2025 inaugural awareness day was a great success.

“It surpassed our wildest expectations. By 7 September 2025, over 70 radiation oncology professional organisations had officially partnered with WRAD and website traffic in the first three months had totalled >9,000 unique visits from 109 countries,” she said.

There were 48 registered WRAD events and many more unregistered events, and more than 50 media items highlighted the day.

An article on the inaugural WRAD was published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology biology and Physics and Prof Turner moderated a panel discussion about amplifying radiotherapy voices at the recent ESTRO26 congress in Stockholm, Sweden.  

She hopes WRAD 2026  – which will have the same overarching theme of ‘One Voice for Radiotherapy’ – will be even bigger and better than the inaugural event.

“We anticipate the WRAD movement will become recognised by more organisations and individuals around the world,” she said.

“We want to support them in using the day to cut through with messages about the vital role of radiotherapy and the gap in people who’d benefit from it, receiving it. Amplifying radiotherapy advocacy efforts in this way will add to initiatives aimed at decision-makers and governments showcasing the importance of investing in radiotherapy services.”

The campaign comes as a special report on the cancer workforce published in Lancet Oncology highlighted a projected global shortfall of 100 million cancer care workers by 2050, as the incidence of cancer rises.

Prof Turner said the WRAD Committee were working to engage more patient, consumer and survivor advocates and to identify WRAD regional champions from all parts of the world to tailor activities and approaches relevant to local populations and needs.

She encouraged all in the radiation therapy community to start planning their WRAD 2026 events.

“We’re encouraging radiotherapy supporters of all types – consumers and consumer/survivor groups, radiation medicine/radiation oncology organisations and services, and industry supporters – to visit the WRAD website and sign up to our contact list,” she said.

“We’d like all groups, big and small, to officially partner with WRAD – add your logo and website link to ours. Follow and share WRAD socials and tag us on yours. Start thinking about an event or activity to mark WRAD 2026 and register your plans on the website or by email. It might be anything from a morning tea to something bigger.”

Prof Turner said there were many ideas and resources available on the WRAD website and she encouraged organisations to involve the media and communications teams at their institutions to help create a media plan to promote their activities.

“Together, with ‘One Voice for Radiotherapy’ we can all contribute to improving the care of people with cancer through ensuring timely access to radiotherapy,” she said.

• Sign up to join World Radiotherapy Awareness Day
• Find out more about becoming a WRAD Regional Champion

Image caption (above): Prof Turner (third from left) joins with Amplifying Radiotherapy Voices panel members to promote World Radiotherapy Awareness Day at ESTRO26.