The IAEA concluded today a virtual educational session to help increase access to life-saving radiotherapy to support the treatment of cervical cancer in Morocco.
Cervical cancer is a major public health problem worldwide, with approximately 600,000 new cases diagnosed in 2020 and 340,000 deaths. It represents the second most frequent and fatal cancer among women in Morocco, especially since it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage.
The IAEA-led educational sessions focused on the use of both external radiation and brachytherapy.
Brachytherapy is a very targeted form of radiotherapy which allows a precise dose to be delivered to the tumour, avoiding nearby healthy tissue, giving many patients a significant chance for cure and the chance to recover with minimal side effects. This is integral to giving women a chance to go on to live healthy lives.
The IAEA is conducting educational activities through the UN Joint Programme on Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control, involving seven UN agencies working together to address the cervical cancer challenge, all the way from prevention to diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care.
Morocco is one of the six initial participating Member States in the UN Joint Programme on Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control, and has already had a successful inception mission that was carried out in November 2016 aimed at ensuring that the country has a sustainable high quality national cervical cancer control programme.
The two-day event, which has been shifted to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, included over 75 participants from five different sites in the country. These activities under the UN Joint Programme in Morocco, as well as another educational session conducted in Tanzania, were supported by Belgium.
“Radiotherapy is a critical modality in cervical cancer treatment and is used in various stages from disease cure to palliation of symptoms,” said May Abdel-Wahab, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Human Health in her opening remarks. “Supporting the continuing medical education of radiation oncologists on the ground is essential to continue to provide this life-saving access to treatment.”
Sessions included lectures on cervical cancer radiotherapy, tumour contouring, and treatment plan evaluation. Participants of the interactive meeting received feedback on their complete tumour contouring exercises, which they had completed beforehand.
Alfredo Polo, a radiation oncologist at the IAEA, said the IAEA was committed to deliver its assistance to countries despite the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic: “We have prepared this virtual event not as a substitute of the initial plan of holding a live course but as an introduction to a more advanced event which we hope to organize as soon as global travel becomes possible again".
“This session will be helpful for many Moroccan physicians who practice brachytherapy for cervical cancer which is so common in Morocco”, said Noureddine Benjaafar, Head of the Department of Radio-Oncology in Rabat and event participant, “despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that educational activities like these continue because women are still being diagnosed with cervical cancer so we are thankful to the IAEA for conducting this session”.
Similar educational sessions will be planned with the other initial participating Member States in the UN Joint Programme on Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control. Such sessions are essential for increasing capacity to deliver radiotherapy, in turn saving lives of women around the world affected by cervical cancer.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that educational activities like these continue because women are still being diagnosed with cervical cancer.”
