NEW YORK, 25 September 2024:
A goal of 10 million fewer stage 4 cancers by 2030 is the central element for leading international figures in cancer care and international policy, who focused on this ambition at United Nations Headquarters.
The move springs from a shared conviction that reversing current trends in cancer incidence depends not only on wide access to early detection, diagnostics and treatment, but also on bridging the inequalities that leave so many patients in lower and middle income countries – and in disadvantaged communities in richer countries – neglected or underserved.
Success, these pioneers of a new approach insist, can come only if the forces of medicine and society can be combined.
That is why the International Cancer Patient Coalition brought together at UNGA this high-profile group of oncologists, officials, diplomats and influential international figures with a common commitment and a determined personal and professional engagement.
==A political framework
The event provided a direct connection to the wide international policy context in promoting the creation of a political framework structured around prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life – areas where cooperation can add the most value.
The International Cancer Patient Coalition is a response at political and at stakeholder level to the need for action against cancer. The ICPC Cancer Plan will deliver real support to countries’ current efforts to reduce the suffering caused by cancer, enabling expertise and resources to be shared across the world
Over the coming years, ICPC will focus on research and innovation, tapping into the potential that digitalisation and new technologies offer, and mobilising institutional support for their wider adoption.
==women’s health
The conference featured leading figures in combating cancers among women.
From the Middle East-North Africa region, Hesham Elghazaly is Professor of Clinical Oncology and Head of the Medical Research Center of Egypt’s Ain Shams University. He is also President of the Breast and Gynecological International Cancer Society and Head of Egypt’s Presidential Initiative of Woman’s Health. He is vice chair of the breast section of the Middle East-North Africa National Comprehensive Cancer Network and member of the general assembly of Breast International Group. He has contributed to ESMO and NCCN MENA guidelines
From Nigeria, Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, Founder of the MedicAid Cancer Foundation and a pediatrician and cancer advocate in Nigeria, appeared alongside Elghazaly on a panel on policy guidelines.
His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatar Cancer Society, also featured among the speakers.
==high-level speakers
Scene-setting for the conference was provided by Vivek Subbiah, M.D. who is Chief of Early-Phase Drug Development at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee.
Panellists included distinguished clinicians, researchers, public health experts and health technology developers from Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, India, Italy, Malaysia and the USA, as well as diplomats and senior WHO officials, as well as former European Commissioner Phil Hogan.
==”a renewed commitment”
Denis Horgan, Executive Director of the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine, who will moderate the meeting, said: “The world urgently needs a renewed commitment to cancer prevention, treatment and care that recognises the growing challenges, and the opportunities to overcome them. We need a whole-of-government approach that focuses on the patient and maximises the potential of new technologies and insights; strengthens cooperation and opportunities for international cooperation; and eradicates inequalities in access to cancer knowledge, prevention, diagnosis and care.”
