Lung cancer: Learn about the advances and opportunities in managing this disease at a free, in-person forum hosted by EL TIEMPO.

Lung cancer, one of the deadliest and most prevalent diseases in the world, will be the focus of discussion at the forum “Lung Cancer in Colombia: Advances and Opportunities,” organized by EL TIEMPO in partnership with AstraZeneca, next Tuesday, November 19, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am at the newspaper's main headquarters (Diagonal 44 #68B-65, Bogotá).

This is a key space for doctors, patients, researchers, students and citizens interested in learning how science, technology and public policies are transforming the landscape of lung cancer in the country.

According to the most recent Globocan figures (2022), lung cancer caused more than 1.8 million deaths worldwide and generated almost 2.5 million new cases, making it the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. In Colombia, this disease remains a significant health challenge due to its late diagnosis: most patients are detected in advanced stages, when the chances of treatment and survival are significantly reduced.

However, the landscape is beginning to change. Advances in early diagnosis, personalized therapies, and innovative treatments have allowed lung cancer to be viewed not as a death sentence but as a more chronic and manageable disease. The forum aims to open a dialogue on how to leverage these advances in the Colombian context.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. with a presentation by Dr. Lucía Carolina Viola, interventional pulmonologist from the Colombian Pulmonology Foundation and the Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo Treatment and Research Center (CTIC), who will present the paper "Overview of lung cancer in Colombia", in which she will present updated figures on incidence, mortality, risk factors and associated symptoms.

The first panel, titled “Early Detection of Lung Cancer,” will then take place, addressing the main barriers to timely diagnosis, technological advances in screening, and medical innovations that are changing the course of the disease. Participants will include Dr. Lucía Carolina Viola and Dr. Ricardo Elías Bruges, an oncologist from the National Cancer Institute and the San Ignacio University Hospital.

The second panel, “Lung Cancer from a Public Health Perspective,” will analyze the structural challenges of the Colombian healthcare system in terms of detection, diagnosis, and treatment. This panel will feature Senator Nadia Blel, one of the most active voices in Congress on anti-smoking policy and cancer prevention, and Martha Herrera, executive director of the INSPIRAT Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the care and quality of life of patients with respiratory diseases.

Among the topics to be discussed will be the gaps in public policy, the regulation of electronic cigarettes, the financing of the health system and the priority inclusion of lung cancer in the new Ten-Year Cancer Plan 2025–2034.

The moderation of the various panels and the general meeting will be in charge of journalist Edwin Caicedo, health specialist of EL TIEMPO, who will contextualize the impact of the disease and the importance of strengthening the institutional response to it.

With this initiative, EL TIEMPO and AstraZeneca reaffirm their commitment to scientific dissemination and the promotion of a more equitable and preventive public health, especially in the face of high-impact pathologies such as lung cancer.

Environment and Health Journalist