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30 May 2017,
Geneva, Switzerland – Today, health leaders from across the world
reaffirmed cancer control as a critical health and development priority
as they adopted a new cancer resolution at the 70th World Health Assembly
(WHA)
in Geneva.
The current WHO
Global Action Plan on Non-Communicable Diseases
(NCDs) and the ambitious targets of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, including SDG 3
(Good health and wellbeing), creates a timely imperative to invest in
cancer, a leading NCD killer. With 1
in 3 people directly affected by cancer and 8.8 million annual deaths,
this disease is one of the world’s most pressing health concerns.
Cancer is estimated to cost world economies as much as US$1.16 trillion
annually - a figure that is projected to grow exponentially if action is not taken now
to reduce the spiralling growth in the number of cases and the impact on
both individuals and healthcare budgets. The greatest
financial and human impact of cancer is felt within low- and
middle-income countries (LMICs),
where only 5% of global resources for cancer prevention and control are
spent.
The 2017
cancer resolution is a direct response to this challenge,
providing countries with guidance for change from health promotion and
risk factor reduction, with particular emphasis on the tobacco control
policies laid out in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and anti-cancer vaccines, but also the need to
address inequity in access to early detection, timely and appropriate
treatment, including pain relief and palliative care. The Union for International
Cancer Control (UICC) applauds the emphasis on evidence-based outcomes
for all people living with cancer and inclusion of the special population
of children, adolescents and young adults with cancer.
New is the emphasis on integration of cancer efforts across national
health plans and the call for scale up of activities in line with the
SDGs. Four key drivers impacting cancer mortality by 2025 that are
supported by the updated WHO cost-effectiveness recommendations for NCDs
also approved at this World Health Assembly are:
- Early diagnosis
programmes
for cervical, breast, colorectal and oral cancers
- Development of
partnerships, referral networks and of centres of excellence for improving the
quality of cancer diagnosis, treatment and care services and
facilitating multidisciplinary cooperation
- Training of health
professionals
at all levels of health care, and
- Strengthening of
palliative care and
promotion
of cancer survivors’ follow up and rehabilitation.
“Stakeholders from all
sectors must now begin working together to ensure this latest global
commitment document translates into impactful national action, particularly in LMICs
where the cancer burden is set to increase most rapidly,”
said Professor Sanchia Aranda, President of the Union for International
Cancer Control (UICC).
This is the first time a cancer-specific agenda item has been discussed
at the World Health Assembly since 2005, with Member States from all
regions signalling their support of the process to develop a comprehensive
resolution, ushering it through initial discussions at
the WHO’s Executive Board meeting in January and co-sponsoring the
final resolution.
This resolution is the result of a call to action raised following last
year’s 69th WHA side event co-hosted by UICC on ‘Making
the right investments for cancer control’ with
a number of Member States, including Jordan, Malaysia, Zambia, Honduras,
Kuwait and Spain. This call stressed the importance of a clear health
systems response for cancer, with an emphasis on a framework for
strengthening diagnosis, treatment and care, particularly access and
availability of surgery, radiotherapy and opioids for pain management, as
well as addressing the rising costs for cancer medicines.
“Successful
adoption of a comprehensive cancer resolution one year after we made the
call to action shows Member States recognise the critical cost of
inaction and are ready to act,” said
HRH Princess Dina Mired, President-elect, UICC.
With global commitments agreed, it is of paramount importance that Member
States and civil society are equipped with data in order to target actions most
effectively and support the plans and financing to follow through with
immediate national action to see a 25 percent reduction in NCDs by 2025.
Last week's appointment of Dr
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as WHO’s new Director General
offers a key opportunity to strengthen the organisation’s role in
leading the NCD response - a commitment made during his election speech
that UICC looks forward to seeing implemented.
“We are
delighted to see a 2017 cancer resolution that is well timed to drive progress that will
have an impact by 2025. UICC will join the NCD community in the
lead-up to next year’s United Nations High-level Meeting on NCDs,
which provides the first formal opportunity since 2014 to check in
against cancer and NCD targets, and to stress the urgency of the actions
put forward in the cancer resolution,” said Cary Adams,
UICC CEO.
For more information, please visit www.uicc.org/CancerResolution
Follow @UICC &
#CancerResolution
on Twitter
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