Guest presenter, Professor Sanchia Aranda [link to external site] visited UTS on 27 April to talk about the partnership formed between the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the World Economic Forum to create ‘C/Can 2025: City Cancer Challenge’ [link to external site], to address the urgent need to move political commitments made at the global level into fully functional, comprehensive cancer solutions, which can reach the majority of the world’s population.
With 1 in 3 people directly affected by the disease, cancer is one of the world’s most pressing health concerns, killing more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis combined each year. The disease 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.
Despite the burden of cancer, Professor Aranda highlighted that the disease was not included in the United Nationals Millennium Development goals and decisive action around the world at the national level has been limited. The UICC has made a strategic choice to target development at cities rather than countries, focusing on cities with more than 1 million people, stable political environments and a minimum level of resourcing/infrastructure. A process is underway to select 5-10 learning cities located in different parts of the world. The initiative includes a core package to guide service development as well as financial mechanisms. Importantly, the initiative is that it aims to partner with private as well as public sectors. A key challenge is to ensure that funds are not diverted from other diseases but, instead, opportunities for ‘win-win’ are exploited (for example in the case of new surgical services).
Professor Aranda has more than 38 years’ experience in cancer control as a clinician, researcher, educator and senior healthcare administrator. She is the President of the Union for International Cancer Control [link to external site] (the world’s peak member-based cancer organisation) and a former President of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care [link to external site].
Thank you to Professor Aranda for such an interesting and informative presentation.