Poorer people in Ireland are up to 70% more likely to develop certain types of cancer, the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) has warned.

According to the society, lung, cervical, stomach, head and neck cancers are all more prevalent in areas with high unemployment and low levels of education.

For example, women who live in areas with the lowest levels of education have a 66% increased risk of developing cervical cancer compared to those living in areas with the highest level. Meanwhile men who live in areas with the lowest levels of education have a 32% increased risk of developing lung cancer compared to those living in areas with the highest level.

Speaking at the annual ICS Charles Cully Lecture about this issue, Prof Michael Marmot, an international expert on health inequalities, said that major differences in the incidence of cancer are caused by social and economic inequalities. Factors such as employment, income and education can play a major role in the disease.

"We know that half of all cancers are preventable by means of healthier living. But an individual's ability to act on this information is shaped by social conditions acting through the life course. An individual's health is a reflection of the social circumstances in which he or she is born, grows, lives, works and ages," he explained.

As a result, if the burden of cancer is to be reduced, social circumstances must be improved, he noted.

"To reduce the burden of cancer we have to improve those social circumstances. Achieving that will take action, globally, nationally and locally by communities, families and individuals," Prof Marmot insisted.

He had led research which has shown that investing in various social policies benefits health. For example, ensuring that children live in good quality housing in safe neighbourhoods with access to good schools means that they are more likely to grow up healthy.

Also speaking at the lecture, Kathleen O'Meara of the ICS said that in order to reduce cancer rates among poorer communities, ‘we have to recognise and tackle the social and economic factors which impact on people's health'.

"We have to make sure that everyone, no matter where they live or how much money they have, gets the same high quality cancer treatment, that they go for screening and that they know how to recognise early symptoms," she explained.

Meanwhile, Audry Deane of the Society of St Vincent de Paul told the lecture that through its 10,500 volunteers, the society sees the daily struggle that many people face while waiting for a diagnosis or treatment in the public health system.

"We see the people falling through the cracks waiting for care and the impact this has on them and their families. Access to health services should be based on need and not ability to pay. Fast tracked access should not be acceptable as it excludes those who have been disadvantaged by generations of structured exclusion," she said.

She insisted that these people ‘are paying the price for poor health policy decision-making over many decades'.

"As long as thousands of adults and children continue to live in households which do not have enough for a minimum essential standard of living, they will continue to suffer poorer health outcomes as they simply cannot afford to access the treatment they need," Ms Deane added.