White House Commission on Health
Sorena Nadaf
Colleagues,
Many of you may have seen the recent article published late last week discussing the Executive Order establishing the President’s “Make America Healthy Again” Commission. This order addresses critical health challenges, including the assertion that the United States had the highest age-standardized cancer incidence rate in 2021—nearly double that of the next-highest country.
Like many, I questioned this bold claim. Data from the American Cancer Society and the World Cancer Research Fund tell a different story. According to both organizations, in 2020, the U.S. had an age-standardized cancer incidence rate of roughly 367 per 100,000 individuals, which does not support the claim that the U.S. rate is nearly twice as high as the next-highest country. Please see links to ACS Cancer Facts and Figures 2024 & Worldwide Cancer Data Facts and Figures
We all know first-hand that it is important to recognize that variations in cancer incidence rates can result from differences in screening practices, healthcare access, reporting standards, and population demographics. High incidence rates in developed countries often reflect strong screening and diagnostic infrastructures, leading to higher detection rates—including early-stage cancers—compared to countries with less developed healthcare systems. While the U.S. does have a relatively high cancer incidence rate, the claim that it is nearly double that of the next-highest country is not supported by available data. Accurate representation of statistics is essential for informed policy-making and public understanding.
For further discussions please join the Cancer Centers Community Slack Channel.
Sorena
ACS Cancer Facts and Figures
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Sorena Nadaf-Rahrov, MS, MMI, PhDc
Cancer Center Informatics Society (Ci4CC)
Chief Strategy and AI Innovation Officer
Sorena Nadaf
Dear all,
Thank you for all the emails! As of now, I’ve received 646 reply messages and counting, so I’d like to address this as a group if at all possible on our community chat space (Slack). We are willing to setup another instant messaging service for those that feel this may be the best way to communicate. For now please use this invitation link to join Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/ci4cc/shared_invite/zt-2zuk698pz-eZMEQjtQwr5lxb8OCuEjtA
For those still working on setting up access to the Cancer Center Community Slack Channel, please reach out to Ke...@ci4cc.org and Sara...@ci4cc.org—they will assist in expediting your access.
In the meantime, here is another article supporting my thread on data on cancer incidence rates in the U.S.:
The “Cancer Statistics, 2025” report, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, is a highly referenced paper that highlights the decline in cancer mortality rates in the United States. The report indicates that cancer mortality continued to decline through 2022, resulting in an overall drop of 34% since 1991, due to reductions in smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment options.
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21871?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Feel free to continue to email me directly, however the Slack Channel is also secure, and all members are approved by Ci4CC. Looking forward to continued discussions on this important topic.
Sorena
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