Last year, a team at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, UK published a real-world analysis of 203 patients with early-onset colorectal cancer (eoCRC). The study showed a dramatic surge in cases over a short period, with over half of patients presenting with metastatic disease, predominantly left-sided tumours, and a median symptom duration of just 3 months before diagnosis. The authors warned that eoCRC could represent an "evolving pandemic." See http://doi.org/10.1093/oncolo/oyae239
Since then, incidence continues to rise across all continents, with similar patterns emerging in multiple national and international datasets.
Why This Matters for the HIFA community
* eoCRC is rising rapidly among people in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s.
* Most cases are sporadic, suggesting major gaps in understanding modifiable and early-life risk factors.
* Awareness among young adults and clinicians remains limited, contributing to delayed presentation.
* Meanwhile, short-form social media (e.g. TikTok reels) and AI-driven content are now the dominant information sources for young people - creating both opportunities and risks for public health.
Introducing Our Upcoming Initiative
We, the Special Interest Group in Digital Health & AI at WHO/Europe Youth4Health network, are launching a global project to develop evidence-based communication guidance for raising eoCRC prevention and awareness among young adults. The project will:
* Convene clinical specialists, youth advocates, communication scientists, social-media creators, and digital-health experts
* Identify which prevention and awareness messages should be prioritised for youth
* Define how these messages can be adapted effectively for short-form platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels
* Examine how generative AI can support safe, accurate, and engaging content creation
* Co-design prototype posts to illustrate how the consensus messages can be translated into youth-appropriate communication
* Our aim is to bridge the gap between emerging science, behavioural insights, and contemporary digital communication channels.
Why We're Sharing This Here
As we shape this work, we're keen to learn from the HIFA community:
* What approaches have you seen succeed in raising awareness of cancer symptoms among younger populations?
* Are there youth-driven or co-designed campaigns that we should look to as models?
* What are the risks you foresee when using short-form social media or AI tools for public-health communication?
* What considerations are especially important in LMIC contexts?
* How can we strike the right balance between urgency and fear-avoidance when communicating about cancer to young adults?
eoCRC incidence is increasing rapidly and globally. Communication strategies - particularly those targeting young people - have not kept pace with this trend. We would greatly value your insight and experience as we develop this work.
HIFA profile: Kathleen Guan is a multidisciplinary researcher passionate about all things digital behavioral health and (global) community engagement. Her PhD research focuses on involving young people in the co-design of personalized AI and emerging technologies, including adaptive mobile apps, LLMs, neurotechnology, and social media reels. By developing novel participatory approaches with a focus on preventative and precision health, Kathleen aims to inform how digital tools can meaningfully enhance everyday life and help reduce mental health challenges alongside chronic disease risks. To achieve this, she prioritizes community-based implementation by working closely with stakeholders across healthcare, engineering, policy, industry, education, and the arts.
Kathleen previously studied human rights and developmental neuroscience (BSFS, Georgetown; MRes, UCL) and has experience in public health and digital innovation (with WHO, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Qatar Computing Research Institute, various early-stage digital health start-ups) as a research collaborator and advisor. She chairs the Special Interest Group in Digital Health & AI within WHO Europe's Youth4Health Network. Kathleen has resided in 7 countries and worked in diverse settings across Asia, North America, and Europe, fostering her deep commitment to global health equity. She is always open to collaboration for social impact and can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleenwguan/.