2025 in review: our Annual Report

Last year showed what our community can do when patients, survivors, and carers stand together. Our 2025 Annual Report tells that story: a year of new leadership, new partnerships, and a global movement that reached more people affected by bladder cancer than ever before.

It was a year of firsts. In 2025 we welcomed Lori Funk-Cirefice as President, alongside new Board members Alessandro Boni (Italy) and Fiorella Gagliardi (Argentina), broadening the voices guiding our work across Europe and Latin America. We also established our very first Scientific Advisory Board, chaired by Prof. Ashish Kamat, bringing together world-leading experts in urology, oncology, radiotherapy, pathology, nursing, and research to make sure our resources stay accurate, credible, and grounded in the best available science.

In October 2025, at the heart of European policymaking, our 5th World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum brought the global community together in Brussels. Over two days, patients, advocates, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers turned lived experience into evidence, positioning bladder cancer higher on the research, access, and policy agenda.

Raising awareness stayed at the centre of everything we did. Under the theme “Feeling Unsure? Get Checked.”, our Bladder Cancer Awareness Month campaign carried a simple, life-saving message: recognising symptoms early, and acting without delay, can make all the difference. Through five community-led grants, advocates in Colombia, Kenya, Nigeria, Nepal, and Senegal brought that message into their own communities, often for the first time.

We also kept our members connected all year round. Our online Advocates Hub, regular Members Connect sessions, and 32 newsletter editions helped our network share knowledge and learn from one another across regions and time zones. And we expanded our library of trusted, plain-language resources, including three new factsheets and an updated Start-up Guide for patient groups, now available in multiple languages so no community is left behind.

On the advocacy front, we joined BCLEAR, an EU-funded project on bladder cancer health literacy led by the European Association of Urology, with pilots planned in Greece, Poland, and Hungary. With the EAU, we also published Tackling Bladder Cancer in Europe, a briefing that put clear policy recommendations directly into the hands of Members of the European Parliament.

Behind every figure in this report is a person: someone who noticed a symptom and got checked, an advocate who spoke up, a family who felt a little less alone.

2025 at a glance:

• 64 countries used our Bladder Cancer Awareness Month resources under the theme “Feeling Unsure? Get Checked.”
• 12.5+ million people reached during Bladder Cancer Awareness Month, with 150,000+ social media interactions
• 13.2+ million people reached across social media over the year
• 3,400+ people played Spot the Drop, our awareness game, now in 16 languages
• Five BCAM Grants supported community-led projects in Colombia, Kenya, Nigeria, Nepal, and Senegal
• 5th World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum held in Brussels, welcoming 60+ attendees from 16 countries across 17 sessions and 5 workshops
• One new member, Fundación Proyecto Cáncer (FUPROCER) from Colombia, bringing our coalition to 17 organisations across six continents
• First Scientific Advisory Board established, chaired by Prof. Ashish Kamat
• Joined BCLEAR, an EU-funded bladder cancer health literacy project, with pilots planned in Greece, Poland, and Hungary

At our 7th General Assembly, we also launched Strategy 2030, our refreshed vision and mission for the years ahead. It sets a clear course: a world where bladder cancer is caught earlier, patient voices shape research and policy, and no one faces this disease alone.

Read the full story of our year and download the 2025 Annual Report.