The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from qualified service providers to develop a global communications strategy and adaptable communication toolkit that supports the IASLC Global Council’s collective action initiative on lung cancer early detection and screening. The toolkit should provide a unifying narrative, evidence-based messaging, and awareness-raising materials that can be adapted for use across diverse countries, cultures, and healthcare settings.
The overall objective is to increase awareness, improve understanding of lung cancer risks and screening, and encourage earlier detection through scientifically credible, locally relevant, and actionable communications.
The goals of the toolkit include:
- Change the narrative around lung cancer: Help reshape public and professional perceptions of lung cancer by reducing stigma and blame, increasing recognition of lung cancer among never-smokers and individuals with other risk factors, and reinforcing that early detection saves lives and that lung cancer can be treatable and curable when diagnosed early.
- Build awareness, understanding, and compassion: Increase understanding of the modern lung cancer landscape, reflecting major advances in screening, diagnosis, and treatment, while fostering greater empathy for people affected by the disease and challenging persistent misconceptions that may contribute to delayed diagnosis and care.
- Develop a globally consistent yet locally adaptable approach: Create messaging and communications materials that establish a common global narrative while allowing adaptation to diverse geographies, cultures, languages, population segments, risk profiles, and health-system contexts represented across the Global Council.
- Educate key audiences: Develop targeted communications for the general public and healthcare professionals, with particular emphasis on primary care physicians, nurses, community health workers, and allied health professionals who play a critical role in identifying at-risk individuals and supporting timely referral, screening, and diagnosis.
The communications strategy and toolkit should be informed by evidence-based approaches to health communication, behavior change, and stigma reduction. The selected service provider is expected to draw upon established best practices for narrative change, audience engagement, social and behavior change communication (SBCC), and public awareness campaigns, including principles identified in The Lancet Commission on Ending Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health1. Recognizing that fact-based education alone is often insufficient to shift attitudes and behaviors, the strategy should incorporate approaches shown to increase empathy, reduce stigma, and motivate action. These may include the appropriate use of patient, survivor, caregiver, and healthcare professional stories; lived-experience perspectives; culturally relevant narratives; and messages that resonate with the values, beliefs, motivations, and information needs of target audiences. The strategy should balance scientific accuracy with compelling storytelling to foster understanding, compassion, engagement, and behavior change among diverse stakeholders.