In February 2024, individuals from all over the world joined forces on World Cancer Day, led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). In conjunction with this annual cancer awareness event, the Global Coalition for Radiotherapy (GCR) hosted the webinar, “Closing the Care Gap through Global Collaboration.”
Moderated by GCR Co-Founder, Pat Price, the webinar featured presenters speaking about the current and future state of cancer care, and the ways to collaborate for successful outcomes. The meeting was attended by an audience of professionals from across the globe, who added their expertise to the discussions.
The meeting began with the latest startling estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), projecting over 35 million new cancer cases predicted by 2050.
Wil Ngwa, Global Health Catalyst
“So we come today with the stunning statistics that we see from the World Health Organization at an important time, where through global collaborations, we can really, really make a big difference. And as we go forward into the future, we look forward hopefully with hope in this year that even something like the Global Cancer fund can become a reality.”
Ngwa spoke about the US Cancer Moonshot Initiative and highlighted the need to extend globally, specifically addressing disparities in treatment and care. #GlobalCancerMooonshot
Ted Trimble, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Trimble presented on the collaborative project for the NIH and GCR to establish essential standards for effective cancer care development. While talking about the project implementation, he stated a few approaches that could be taken:
“Where we have the opportunity for high-level workshops at high profile events, such as the World Health Assembly, such as the yearly meetings in London on cancer, such as the UICC World Cancer Congress. We want to be able to use those high-level workshops to get people together. And we know the importance of establishing clear deliverables at each stage of the projects. So we don't just bring people together to talk, but to actually share best practices, identify what we need, and build on the good work that's been done so far by the Global Coalition for Radiotherapy.”
“We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We have to look at examples that are working well and then figure out how to replicate those in other countries and in other situations.”
Susannah Stanway, London Global Cancer Week
Stanway spoke about building resilient health care systems. In the discussions surrounding national cancer control plans, she said:
“We need to have proper plans. These have to be political decisions. They have to be accountable. They have to be equal, fair, acceptable, affordable, have multidisciplinary input, be reportable, et cetera. They need to feature information about cancer intelligence. We need to know what the survival rates are, prevalence, incidence at a minimum. And we need to make sure that research capacity is invested in, and that high quality implementation science is done in countries, so that different regions, different countries can develop their own research base. And knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors need to be considered as well.”
Pat Price, GCR Co-Founder, Radiotherapy UK Chair
Price provided an update on the Radiotherapy Essential Standards, and announced the four countries where they will be implemented:
“We've all worked really hard in the GCR on this to try and produce what would be an essential for radiotherapy and national control plan. We did a soft launch in the London Global Cancer Week and now this is our official launch here…and we want to keep this as a live document. We want to have people engaged here. So far we're piloting these in UK, Sweden and Ghana and Indonesia, and hopefully we will learn a lot from that.”
The deadline for submitting feedback on the RT Essential Standards is 20 February 2024, in advance of the next Working Group meeting.
Sarah Quinlan, Radiotherapy UK
Quinlan presented on the ten year vision for radiotherapy in the UK.
“So, for us, this isn't about creating a document that then sits on a shelf. The aim of this is to continue to drive forward a collaborative approach within the radiotherapy community within the UK, to drive forward discussions.”
“To reflect some of the conversations we're having today, it's in the hands of politicians and decision makers and leaders in healthcare to actually implement this. But I suppose what I would say is that it's in the power of all of us to collaborate, raise awareness and advocate for radiotherapy and to advocate for the patients.”
The attendees and presenters at this meeting exemplified the collaborative spirit that is needed to improve patient outcomes.
REVIEW THE RECORDING
You can watch a recording of the GCR World Cancer Day webinar here:
REVIEW THE NOTES AND MEETING CHAT
You can download the notes and chat from the 8 February meeting here:
REVIEW THE SLIDE DECKS FROM THE PRESENTATIONS
This slide deck includes presentations from the meeting, and can be downloaded here: