Researchers at the University of Sydney’s Cancer Elimination Collaboration will develop Australia’s first comprehensive framework for addressing the increase in early onset cancers in Australia, through a $2.18 million Australian Government grant.

Cancer rates in Australians aged 20 to 49 have increased significantly since 2000, causing a growing burden on individuals, families, the health system and the wider community.

The STRIVE-EOC* project, funded by a three-year Cancer Australia Research Initiative (CARI) grant, will focus on high-priority cancers, of the bowel, breast, pancreas and liver, with a four-part strategy to:

• Map established and emerging cancer control interventions and generating new evidence on their effectiveness in people aged 20 to 49 years
• Evaluate the benefits, harms, costs, and equity impacts of priority interventions, with a focus on early detection and referral
• Translate findings into an interactive clinical decision-support dashboard and a stakeholder-driven national roadmap to reduce the burden of early onset cancer
• Codesign and testing a primary‑care intervention to boost screening rates for bowel cancer in people aged 45 to 49 years

Chief investigator Dr Jie-Bin Lew, a Senior Research Fellow at the Cancer Elimination Collaboration, said early-onset cancer was an increasingly important public health issue.

“At a time when overall cancer mortality rates are falling, and incidence rates of some cancers in older age groups are declining, it is concerning to see a significant increase in cancers in people aged 20 to 49,” Dr Lew said.

“The STRIVE-EOC project will generate new evidence on the interventions that have the greatest potential to improve outcomes for younger people with cancer, while establishing a framework that can incorporate new evidence as it emerges.”

Professor Karen Canfell AC, who leads the Cancer Elimination Collaboration, said incidence trends in early onset cancers in Australians were going in the wrong direction.

“Although mortality rates for early onset cancer continue to fall, the increases in incidence are significant and must be met with a systematic approach to improving outcomes for people affected,” Professor Canfell said.

“An estimated 1,900 Australians aged from 20 to 49 died from cancer in 2025, with around 40 percent of the total being diagnosed with bowel, breast, pancreatic or liver cancers.”

“The risk factors, symptoms and care pathways among these cancers vary widely. STRIVE-EOC will help us identify best practice interventions across these pathways, with learnings that could also be adapted to other cancer types.”

Professor Canfell thanked Cancer Australia and the Australian Government for supporting the CARI program, through which the STRIVE-EOC project is funded.

*Strategic Targeting of Resources and InterVEntions [strive] for Early-Onset Cancers