International collaborations in cancer control and the Third International Cancer Control Congress

Over the past few decades, there has been growing support for the idea that cancer needs an interdiscipli- nary approach. Therefore, the international cancer community has developed several strategies as outlined in the WHO non-communicable diseases Action Plan (which includes cancer control) as the World Health As- sembly and the UICC World Cancer Declaration, which both include primary prevention, early diagnosis, treat- ment, and palliative care. This paper highlights experi- ences/ideas in cancer control for international collabo- rations between low, middle, and high income coun- tries, including collaborations between the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) Member States, the Latin-American and Caribbean countries, and the East- ern Mediterranean countries. These proposals are pre- sented within the context of the global vision on cancer control set forth by WHO in partnership with the Inter- national Union Against Cancer (UICC), in addition to is- sues that should be considered for collaborations at theglobal level: cancer survival (similar to the project CON- CORD), cancer control for youth and adaptation of Clinical Practice Guidelines. Since cancer control is giv- en lower priority on the health agenda of low and mid- dle income countries and is less represented in global health efforts in those countries, EU and AU cancer stakeholders are working to put cancer control on the agenda of the EU-AU treaty for collaborations, and are proposing to consider palliative care, population-based cancer registration, and training and education focus- ing on primary prevention as core tools. A Community of Practice, such as the Third International Cancer Con- trol Congress (ICCC-3), is an ideal place to share new proposals, learn from other experiences, and formulate new ideas. The aim of the ICCC-3 is to foster new inter- national collaborations to promote cancer control ac- tions in low and middle income countries. The develop- ment of supranational collaborations has been hin- dered by the fact that cancer control is not part of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MG- Gs). As a consequence, less resources of development aids are allocated to control NCDs including cancer.