On this historic day, we celebrate the power of radiotherapy to heal, the professionals who deliver it with care, and the global movement ensuring its benefits reach every patient, everywhere.

Why September 7 Matters:

This year marks the inaugural celebration of World Radiotherapy Awareness Day (WRAD) on September 7, 2025—a historic milestone in raising global awareness about the transformative role of radiotherapy in cancer treatment. The date, September 7, commemorates the first patient ever treated on a linear accelerator at Hammersmith Hospital in 1953. This innovation revolutionized cancer treatment and is therefore an important date for radiotherapy.

Globally, 200 million people live in a country with no access to radiotherapy – and more than 40 countries in Asia and Africa do not even have one trained radiation oncologist, medical physicist and radiotherapy technologist.

 As we shine a spotlight on this powerful therapy, we celebrate its impact on millions of lives, honor the dedicated professionals who deliver it with precision and care, and advocate for greater investment to ensure its benefits are accessible to all who need them.

What’s Radiotherapy, and Why is It So Important?

Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, is a vital tool in the fight against cancer. By delivering targeted beams of high energy, it shrinks, controls, or destroys tumors with remarkable precision. Globally, 50–60% of cancer patients will require radiotherapy at some point in their treatment journey. Its impact is profound: studies estimate that ensuring access to radiotherapy for all who need it by 2035 could save over one million lives annually. From curing early-stage cancers to alleviating pain in advanced cases, radiotherapy is a cornerstone of comprehensive cancer care.

How Radiotherapy Changes Lives:

Radiotherapy’s versatility and effectiveness make it indispensable in modern oncology. Its benefits are far-reaching:

• Curative Power: Radiotherapy has proven curative for numerous cancers, including breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, head and neck, and cervical cancers, which collectively account for over half of global cancer cases. Its ability to eradicate tumors has saved countless lives.
• Precision and Innovation: Advanced techniques like stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) deliver pinpoint-accurate treatments for cancers of the brain, spine, lung, prostate, and pancreas. These cutting-edge methods often yield outcomes comparable—or superior—to other treatments, while being less invasive and more cost-effective.
• Palliative Care: Beyond curing cancer, radiotherapy plays a critical role in palliative care, relieving pain, reducing symptoms, and improving quality of life for patients with advanced disease.
• Convenience: Most radiotherapy treatments are outpatient procedures, with generally mild side effects, allowing patients to maintain their daily routines during therapy.
• Resilience in Crises: During the COVID-19 pandemic, radiotherapy proved its adaptability, enabling cancer care to continue safely when surgeries and other treatments were delayed.

Staff It Safe: How Protect Patients and Staff:

While radiotherapy involves high-energy beams, robust safety systems ensure it is delivered with precision and care. These include:

• Rigorous Quality Assurance (QA): Regular checks ensure that machines like linear accelerators operate accurately and consistently.
• Advanced Treatment Planning: Meticulous planning and peer reviews minimize risks while maximizing therapeutic benefits.
• Radiation Protection: Stringent measures safeguard patients, healthcare staff, and the public.
• Continuous Improvement: Incident reporting and learning systems drive ongoing enhancements in safety and efficacy.

These safeguards make radiotherapy not only effective but also one of the safest treatment modalities in oncology.

The Experts Behind the Beams: 

At the heart of safe and effective radiotherapy are medical physicists, whose expertise ensures treatments are delivered with precision. Their critical responsibilities include:

• Commissioning and calibrating advanced equipment, such as linear accelerators and imaging systems.
• Overseeing treatment planning and ensuring accurate dose delivery to target tumors while sparing healthy tissue.
• Managing QA programs and radiation protection systems to uphold safety standards.
• Training staff on safety protocols and guiding the adoption of innovative technologies like intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), SRS, SBRT, and image-guided radiotherapy.

Their work is essential to maintaining the trust and effectiveness of radiotherapy, ensuring patients receive the highest standard of care.

WRAD Theme 2025- One Voice for Radiotherapy:

The inaugural WRAD theme — “One Voice for Radiotherapy” — reflects the unity, passion, and shared purpose of the global radiotherapy community.

WRAD is our opportunity to speak together as one — to raise awareness, educate the public, and advocate for equitable access to radiotherapy for everyone who needs it, regardless of where they live.

This theme captures the fact that WRAD is not just an event, but a truly global movement. Professionals, patients, advocates, and policymakers from every region are joining forces to help people living with cancer by promoting the life‑saving potential of radiotherapy.

To ensure this message reaches as many people as possible, we have translated our campaign graphics, key messages, and media toolkit into multiple languages. This reflects our commitment to accessibility, inclusivity, and cultural relevance, ensuring that no voice is left unheard in this collective call for action.

By uniting under One Voice for Radiotherapy, we amplify our impact — breaking down barriers, sharing knowledge, and inspiring change. Together, we can make radiotherapy a reality for all, turning innovation into access and hope into healing.

A Global Call to Action:

World Radiotherapy Awareness Day is more than a moment of reflection—it’s a call to action. To expand access to this life-saving treatment and ensure its continued success, we urge:

• Policymakers: Invest in radiotherapy infrastructure and workforce training to make this critical treatment accessible to all, especially in underserved regions.
• Hospitals and Healthcare Systems: Prioritize continuous QA and safety programs to maintain the highest standards of care.
• Communities: Recognize and support the vital contributions of radiation professionals—oncologists, radiation therapists, and medical physicists—who make radiotherapy safe, effective, and transformative.

Every voice matters — but together, our voices become impossible to ignore.

Towards a Healthier, Fairer World:

Radiotherapy is a beacon of hope in cancer care, blending cutting-edge science with compassionate care. On this first-ever World Radiotherapy Awareness Day, let us commit to advancing its reach, refining its precision, and honoring the professionals who make it possible. Together, we can ensure that radiotherapy continues to save lives, alleviate suffering, and pave the way for a future where cancer is met with confidence and care.

By investing in radiotherapy, we invest in hope, healing, and a healthier world for all.

References

1. Baskar, R., Lee, K. A., Yeo, R., & Yeoh, K. W. (2012). Cancer and radiation therapy: Current advances and future directions. International Journal of Medical Sciences, 9(3), 193–199. https://doi.org/10.7150/ijms.3635
2. Atun, R., Jaffray, D. A., Barton, M. B., Bray, F., Baumann, M., Vikram, B., Hanna, T. P., Knaul, F. M., Lievens, Y., Lui, T. Y. M., Milosevic, M., O’Sullivan, B., Rodin, D., Rosenblatt, E., Sharpe, M. B., Sullivan, R., & Yap, M. L. (2015). Expanding global access to radiotherapy. The Lancet Oncology, 16(10), 1153–1186. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00222-3
3. Glimelius, B., Montelius, A., & Brahme, A. (2017). The history and development of the linear accelerator and its contribution to cancer treatment. Acta Oncologica, 56(9), 1137–1144. https://doi.org/10.1080/0284186X.2017.1346381
4. Jones, D. T., & Williams, M. V. (2013). The first patient treated with a linear accelerator: The Hammersmith Hospital story. British Journal of Radiology, 86(1021), 20120604. https://doi.org/10.1259/bjr.20120604
5. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). (2017). Setting up a radiotherapy programme: Clinical, medical physics, radiation protection and safety aspects. IAEA. https://www.iaea.org/publications/11075

Writter:
Md. Jobairul Islam, Founder & Executive Director | Global Alliance for Medical Physics Education and Research (GAMPER) &  Medical Physicist cum RCO |Labaid Cancer Hospital & Super Specialty Center, Bangladesh