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Борьба в раком в грядущем десятилетии: МАГАТЭ подчеркивает важнейшую роль ядерной науки и технологии на Всемирном саммите по здравоохранению (на англ. языке)

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A high-level expert panel, convened at the 10th World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany, on 14 October, discussed the significant increase in new cancer cases and related deaths as well on the mounting global inequalities in access to effective and life-saving cancer prevention, early diagnosis and treatment services, including nuclear medicine and radiotherapy.

A recent report, published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), indicates a significant global increase in cancer incidence and mortality rates. Newly diagnosed cancer cases have jumped from 14.1 million in 2012 to an estimated 18.1 million for 2018, and cancer deaths from 8.2 million in 2012 to 9.6 million this year.

Dazhu Yang, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, said that the situation was particularly worrying in developing nations where the vast majority of new cancer cases and related deaths occur. “Radiotherapy, for example, is an essential tool in effective cancer treatment. However, developing nations are woefully underserved. 90% of people in low income countries lack access to this life-saving treatment. In practical terms, this means that many patients die of diseases that would be treatable if they lived in a developed country.”

The IAEA is working with developing country governments to change that, he told fellow panellists and the audience.

“Around 25% of our Technical Cooperation Programme is focused on health, in particular the diagnosis, treatment and palliation of cancer patients. Improving access to radiotherapy and nuclear medicine is a priority for us, through developing essential human resources, helping countries to ensure safety, and supporting partnership and the mobilisation of resources.”

Other panellists called for improved partnerships and coordination, national cancer control planning and increased financing.

Andreas Penk, Regional President of Pfizer Oncology and co-chair of the session, highlighted the substantial recent medical progress in treating cancer and upcoming innovations which have the potential to increase the cure rates of many cancers. “Nevertheless, much more needs to be done to bring these advances to all patients in need and to support countries in developing critical capacities for better cancer diagnostics and treatment. The private sector plays a key role in innovative partnerships and can help to bridge the gap,” he said.

Peter Boyle, President of the International Prevention Research Institute and the other co-chair of the session, highlighted opportunities to scale-up the implementation of known prevention tools and innovations. “Up to half of all new cases can be prevented by applying what’s on the shelf today,” he said. “However, there are major barriers to achieving this reduction, in particular the increasing disparity between high- and low-resource regions of the world and the lack of coordination between organisations working to improve the situation.”

Julie Torode, Director of Special Projects of the Union for International Cancer Control, pointed out the good progress of a number of countries demonstrated by a recently published global analysis of National Cancer Control Plans. “Disappointingly though, despite more countries having such plans and making them accessible in the public domain, less than 50 percentage of them are costed. This poses a major barrier for generating the sustained financing needed for effective services,” she said. “We have a long way to go and urgently need more attention to financing for cancer control at both the national and global level.”

Richard Sullivan, Director of the Institute of Cancer Policy King’s College London, argued for the need to support countries to strengthen their overall health systems to deliver affordable, accessible and quality cancer care and highlighted major gaps in the availability of trained medical cancer professionals in developing countries, particularly in Africa.

The platform offered by the World Health Summit, which gathered over 2,000 global experts, demonstrated the important value and the need of all partners, i.e. governments, international organizations, academia, civil society and the private sector, to work in close partnership in addressing and managing the next decade of cancer, Mr Yang said in his closing remarks.

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