Over the last ten years, the Government of Thailand has focused on increasing access to cancer care, by opening ten specialized state-run radiotherapy centres in remote provinces, said Princess Chulabhorn, President of the Chulabhorn Research Institute, which houses Thailand’s first comprehensive cancer control centre.
“Our goal is to provide cancer care to all Thai people regardless of their social and economic background,” she said.
She highlighted the support from the IAEA in this endeavour, and spoke of a technical cooperation project, which ended recently, and which has enabled Thai scientists to produce new types of radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases.
“My vision is to educate and produce medical personnel that are highly needed in Thailand to treat cancer - medical doctors, radiological technologists and medical physicists,” she said. The first graduating class of a royal academy, established in 2016, will enter the workforce in 2021, she added. “We will continue to improve the life of cancer patients with highly skilled personnel and improved treatment techniques.”
In Burkina Faso, 25 people die of cancer every day, “a sad and shocking figure,” said First Lady Sika Kabore, adding that cancers affecting women are the most common.
“Since 2016, we have launched a decisive strike to combat cancer,” she said. “Burkina Faso is steadfastly committed to tackle cancer care.”
With the help of international partners and donors, the government is working on increasing access to care and on a programme of early diagnosis. Last April, construction of a radiotherapy centre began, with the support of the IAEA, which helps build institutional capacity, including through the training of staff in diagnosis, treatment, radiation protection and quality control of equipment.
Increasing access to treatment is a key goal of the Government of Niger as well, said Lalla Malika Mahamadou, Niger's First Lady. A new strategic plan to create diagnostic units in all provinces of the country is under development. “Early diagnosis is key to success,” she said.
Thanks to support from the IAEA, Niger today has a general nuclear law, which is necessary for the safe and secure use of radiation technology, she said. Furthermore, the IAEA has supported the country through the donation of equipment, human resource development and advice in setting up radiation bunkers.
In Peru, government-funded treatment is available to all cancer patients, said Minister of Health Elizabeth Zulema Tomas Gonzales. More than 60% of the country’s over 70,000 cancer patients require radiation, and thanks to the support of the IAEA and other partners, they have access to care using the latest technology. “We must offer health services that are high quality, safe and have a human face.”
The government is putting emphasis on prevention as well.
“We have created cancer registries and are running information and awareness raising campaigns to reduce lifestyle risk factors and promote healthy living,” she said.
Combatting oncological diseases is one of the health care priorities of Russia's government, said Deputy Health Minister Sergey Kraevoy. “We are working on outfitting clinics with state of the art medical equipment and on broadening public access to high-level cancer therapy.”
Russia supports other countries in increasing the quality of their cancer services by hosting IAEA-organized training courses to cancer experts. “We cooperate with the Agency very closely,” he said.
Cervical cancer is taking too many lives, particularly in developing countries, said Douglas Lowy, Acting Director General of the National Cancer Institute in the United States. “There is a potential for controlling it and eventually eliminating it, not only in high income countries but also in low income countries,” he said. “High income countries have the resources to take advantage of new technologies, and the IAEA can play a major role in helping developing countries access the same technology and overcoming discrepancy in treatment.”
Cervical cancer is curable, if diagnosed early, he underlined. Of the over 300,000 women who succumb to the disease every year, 90% are in developing countries, where in most cases there is no screening or comprehensive vaccination against the HPV virus, which is responsible for cervical cancer. Ongoing research into the development of a new kind of vaccine, which would require only a single vaccination, decreasing costs and simplifying logistics, is key to tacking the problem in developing countries, he said. “This could be transformative to the rollout of large scale vaccination in developing countries.”
Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), spoke about the “long and successful collaboration between WHO and IAEA on cancer.” In a video message to the Forum, he highlighted two joint global initiatives by the WHO, the IAEA and other partners: to eliminate cervical cancer and childhood cancer. “For both cervical cancer and childhood cancer, survival in high income countries is 70%, while in Africa it is less than 30%,” he said. “We have no excuse if we do not act.”
Serving women’s lives from cancer is an important endeavour, said Bandar M. H. Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). “More than 8.6 million women suffer from largely treatable cancers. This is a priority for IsDB.”
The Bank is ready to consider providing grants to 17 low and middle income countries that are members of both organizations for IAEA projects to diagnose and treat women cancers. “We want to contribute to the global effort to save millions of women's lives,” he said, announcing a plan to mobilize an initial US $10 million in grant funding for which a Memorandum of Understanding was signed shortly after the Forum’s opening session.
