World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition

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België
Bruxelles / Brussel
World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition

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The World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition is a global umbrella organisation, representing national bladder cancer patient advocacy groups.

Currently, we have 17 member organisations from 6 continents.

10/10/2026

🧠 Today is World Mental Health Day, and we are launching our new factsheet: Mental Health and Emotional Well-being.

A bladder cancer diagnosis affects the mind as much as the body. Fear, sadness and anxiety are common and completely understandable, including “scanxiety”, the tension that builds while waiting for tests and results.

Written for patients, survivors and carers, our new factsheet explains why these feelings happen and offers practical ways to cope, questions to ask your healthcare team, and guidance on where to find support 💜

You are not alone, and your mental well-being matters just as much as your physical health.

📄 Read more and download the factsheet: https://worldbladdercancer.org/news_events/world-mental-health-day-2026-launching-our-new-factsheet-on-mental-health-and-emotional-well-being/

World Health Organization (WHO) World Federation for Mental Health

09/10/2026

🎙️ Our Executive Director, Alex Filicevas, is speaking at the European Cancer Summit 2026!

📅 Wednesday, November 18, 2026
⏰ 14:45-16:00 CET
📍 The Hotel Brussels and online

💡 Session: Digital Cancer Innovation for Better Care and a Stronger Europe

🔬 New digital tools are changing how cancer is found, diagnosed and treated. At this session, policymakers, doctors, researchers, industry and patient advocates will come together to discuss what this means for patients and health systems across Europe.

🤝 Alex will be there to make sure the voices of patients, survivors and carers affected by bladder cancer are part of that conversation. The best care is built with patients, not just for them.

👉 You can join online too! Register here: https://www.europeancancer.org/summit

💬 Know someone working in cancer care or digital health? Tag them below or share this post.

European Cancer Organisation

08/10/2026

🗣️ The CANCERSurvey still needs to hear from people affected by bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is often pictured as an older man's disease. The reality is wider: 1 in 4 patients are women, and it can affect people at any age. Every experience is different, and every one of them belongs in this data.

WECAN's CANCERSurvey is gathering the experiences of patients and carers across Europe. What you share will help shape how cancer care is planned and delivered.

🕛 25 minutes
🌍 15 languages
👥 Adults diagnosed with cancer in Europe, and carers

🔗 https://picker.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0CXP3oBuQAvuB2m?Custom=WBCPC

✅ Already taken it? Thank you! Please repost so it reaches someone who hasn't.

06/10/2026

Imagine hearing the words "bladder cancer" and not being able to find information in a language you understand 💬

For many families, this is the reality. Every year, 614,298 people around the world are diagnosed with bladder cancer 🌍, and many of them speak a language other than English.

So we did something about it 👇

📚 10 bladder cancer factsheets are now available in Italian! 🇮🇹

We created them in partnership with Associazione PaLiNUro, our member organisation in Italy. They explain bladder cancer in simple words for patients, survivors and carers.

Inside, you will find:

🩺 What bladder cancer is and how it develops
🔍 The signs to look out for (blood in your urine is the most common one)
🚭 Risk factors, and simple steps to lower your risk
👩 Bladder cancer in women
💊 Diagnosis and treatment options
❓ Key questions to ask your doctor or nurse
📖 Medical terms explained in plain language

Read them at home, share them with your family and take them to your appointment ✅

👉 Download the factsheets here: https://worldbladdercancer.org/news_events/expanding-access-to-bladder-cancer-patient-information-factsheets-now-available-in-italian/

🔁 Know someone who could benefit? Please share this post.

23/09/2026

🌍 Public Day at the World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum 2026

Public Day brought together patients, carers, advocates, healthcare professionals, researchers and policymakers in Hong Kong, marking the Forum’s first gathering in Asia.

The day was filled with shared experiences, new ideas and important conversations about the future of bladder cancer care.

✨ We heard about:

✔︎ The latest developments in bladder cancer research
✔︎ The impact of Bladder Cancer Awareness Month
✔︎ How to make clinical trials more patient-centred
✔︎ The important role of carers
✔︎ Shared decision-making and the need for better information
✔︎ How lived experience can help others
✔︎ The gaps in support for women with bladder cancer

Our Executive Director, Alex Filicevas also shared WBCPC’s progress, including 17 member organisations across 14 countries, new patient resources, Members Connect, BCLEAR and an awareness campaign that reached more than 41 million people.

👏 Thank you to everyone who joined us and shared their knowledge, experiences and ideas. Together, we are working towards earlier diagnosis, better care and stronger support for everyone affected by bladder cancer.

BladderCancerCare

23/09/2026

🌍 Looking back at Advocates Day at the World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum 2026

Advocates from around the world came together in Hong Kong for the first Forum held in Asia.

It was a day of sharing, learning and working together:

✨ Member organisations shared projects from Australia, Canada, Malawi and Spain.
🧠 Practical sessions explored AI, Health Technology Assessment, organisational growth, partnerships, conflict management and learning from other patient communities.
🤝 Members also shared their views on how WBCPC can continue supporting its community.
📝 The day closed with a World Café to help shape the next patient and carer survey.

Thank you to all the speakers, participants and partners who made Advocates Day possible. Your experience and commitment continue to strengthen bladder cancer advocacy.

22/09/2026

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 – 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗮𝘆 🌍

Public Day brought together patients, carers, advocates, nurses, doctors, researchers and policymakers from across the world, in Asia for the first time.

🔹We heard what care really looks like in Japan and India. We heard where the research stands, and what patients have taught the clinicians treating them. We heard how a campaign in Kenya started a conversation that did not exist. We heard from carers about what they carry, and from patients about the decisions they were never offered.

🔹Three people told us their own stories, from Singapore, Japan and Senegal, and each had turned their diagnosis into something that helps other people.

🔹And we closed where our community keeps asking us to: the gaps women face. 1 in 4 people diagnosed with bladder cancer is a woman, and too many are told it is something else first.

👏 Thank you to everyone who joined us, spoke, listened and shared. And thank you to our partners and sponsors for making it possible.

22/09/2026

The conversation we need more of 🚺

Our final session looked at the gaps women face in bladder cancer care.

🗣Christine La Rose, who moderated, was diagnosed at 49 after repeated rounds of antibiotics for a UTI that was not a UTI. Angela Pelletier had symptoms at 37 and had to say the words herself before anyone investigated. Angela runs a women's group in Canada, and as she put it, ask on any given night how many women were treated for a UTI first, and every hand in the room goes up.

🩺Dr Makarand Khochikar addressed that bladder cancer is not more aggressive in women, as the biology is the same. What differs is how long it takes to be diagnosed. His suggestion was simple: when someone presents with blood in their urine, do a basic ultrasound rather than prescribe another course of antibiotics.

👩🏻‍⚕️Hilda Kwok, a nurse consultant in Hong Kong, spoke about the women in her care who take on the family caring role and quietly carry their own distress. Almost all tell her they need no guidance on sexual health. She is not convinced that is what they actually feel, and wants nurses better trained and supported to have those conversations.

🗣Angela's advice to any woman facing surgery: talk to another woman who has been through it.

👉Learn more about the session here: https://worldbladdercancer.org/news_events/addressing-gaps-in-support-for-women-with-bladder-cancer-closing-a-gap-that-starts-at-diagnosis/

22/09/2026

This afternoon three people told the room what living with bladder cancer has actually been like.

🌍 Amit Rele joined us from India. He was diagnosed in Singapore with no symptoms at all, and shared the confusion of researching your own cancer, and how at some point you have to trust one doctor and commit. Three years after having his bladder removed, he works, travels, plays golf and swims in the sea. His message: patients are only limited by their beliefs.

🇯🇵 Junichiro Sano and his wife Keiko were both diagnosed with cancer within a year of each other. She died in 2024, leaving a book about living while facing illness. Afterwards he discovered how hard it is to meet another bladder cancer survivor in Japan, where the disease is rarely spoken about. So he travelled the country looking for others, and built an online space where men can talk openly.

🇸🇳 Amy NIang was diagnosed in Senegal in 2022, two months after turning 50. Searching online afterwards, the first thing she found was our Coalition. She has since taken bladder cancer onto Senegalese television and radio, and families across the continent now write to her for guidance.

👏 Thank you Amit, Junichiro and Amy.

Learn more about the session here: https://worldbladdercancer.org/news_events/capturing-lived-experience-with-bladder-cancer-three-journeys-one-message/

Adresse

Square De Meeûs, 38-40
Brussels
1000

Téléphone

+3223003345

Site Web

http://www.worldbladdercancer.org/

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