“Habilitation” refers to a process aimed at helping people gain health, function and wellbeing. In this presentation I develop a conceptual framework for considering habilitation across the span of trajectories of malignant disease treated with curative and palliative intent. This will include ”Pre habilitation” i.e. pre-emptively developing health, function and wellbeing prior to an intervention or disease progression, and “Rehabilitation” i.e. re-gaining health, function and wellbeing that may have been lost or compromised. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is an example applied in resectable cancers, which includes multiple highly specific and focused elements to improve postoperative outcomes. Pre habilitation based largely on nutrition and exercise is also considered preoperatively as well as prior to other treatments such a radical radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy, such nutrition/exercise – based protocols are very diverse in nature. Various nutrition / exercise based interventions are proposed right through to the end stages of incurable cancer trajectory, including end of life situations. Consideration is required for the timing and duration of the (pre/re- habilitation of whatever sort). Some approaches may be too little and too late and the determinants of response to habilitation remain poorly characterized. There is also question as to whether a given generic nutrition/exercise habilitation can modify pre-existing comorbid conditions or has specific enough elements to protect against chemotherapy toxicity or surgical complications which are by definition different in nature. Optimization of habilitation as well as compliance remain important challenges.