Six keys to becoming a city against cancer

Anah Cazas / Cali, Colombia

Timely diagnosis, training of human resources, proper use of resources, diagnosis of the situation and joint work of public and private institutions are some of the keys for a city to improve cancer care and fight cancer.

Anything is possible. Cali, one of the first cities in C / Can 2025: Cities Challenge against Cancer, which brings together various stakeholders to help change the problem of a region, is one example: cancer is the second leading cause in Latin America (The Economist Intelligence Unit 2017).

How did the C / Can 2025 appear? According to project proponents, cities offer an opportunity to sustainably expand access to health services for a large part of the population, given increasing urbanization rates.

Cities can be the main drivers of a coordinated global response to reduce inequality in access to oncology care, says Dr. Rolando Camacho, international expert in cancer control and advisor with UICC. By creating a platform to support this response, UICC and the global cancer community can work together with key players in cities to improve the health of their citizens and help achieve greater sustainability in their communities, adds -t it.

According to Camacho, the C / Can 2015 initiative represents an opportunity to share experiences and learnings to guide the planning, implementation and evaluation of oncology treatments and care in different cities of the world.

C / Can 2025, cities of over one million citizens have been identified, who have a political commitment to fight against cancer, resolve to strengthen their health systems and the opportunity to generate a key learning related to multisectoral collaboration.

Cali (Colombia) was chosen as one of the first pilot cities of the initiative, with Asuncin (Paraguay), Kumasi (Ghana) and Rangn, Myanmar (Burma).

The Colombian city is the center of reference in the south-west of this country for patients requiring highly complex medical care and their health system provides services to nearly nine million people.

According to Mara Cristina Lesmes, Departmental Health Secretary of the Valle del Cauca Department, whose capital is Cali, the implementation of this project has not been an easy task, but so far, it has been accomplished and advanced in several stages.

As the first key to becoming a city against cancer, Cali has already put in place the evaluation of the main axes of improvement. In a second step, the local authorities concluded a comprehensive needs badessment report with the contribution of more than 180 interested parties. The initiative is developing plans to address identified challenges in order to provide better patient care.

The successful completion of the diagnosis stage, says and ensures that is currently working on seeking funding to build and secure projects. Lesmes also started talking about human resource education

. The Departmental Health Secretary of Valle del Cauca explains that one of the main challenges and the third key cities in the fight against cancer is access to a timely diagnosis.

And in recent years alarming numbers have been revealed. For example, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 60 and 70% of cancer cases in the region have been diagnosed at an advanced stage.

With a similar point of view, Camacho explains that an early and timely diagnosis is very important to fight against cancer. In addition to the patients' interest in their diagnosis, the expert maintains that the role of doctors is vital. In order to make a timely diagnosis, it is necessary for health professionals to have an education that will allow them to refer the patient to the first symptoms, he explains.

Camacho explains another challenge of cities that are fighting cancer is to change the stigma of people who see cancer as a deadly disease and who are not convinced that if cancer is treated on time, it can be cured.

Both experts agree that to get a quick diagnosis and change the stigma. It is important that people work in awareness campaigns on how to detect symptoms of the disease in time for patients and health professionals. According to Lesmes, it is important to work and train general practitioners who serve the health centers in small communities.

Carlos Estrada, General Manager of Roche in Colombia, said the vital role is vital. plays private initiative to achieve awareness of diseases as the patient must understand the disease, be aware of the symptoms and know when to reach the doctor.

Optimizing resources is another key to that city's fight against cancer, says Ramiro Guerrero, director of the Social Protection Studies Center (Proesa). It is very important to spend well, instead of spending more, explain and indicate that before the few resources, you should make the most of the use of human resources, infrastructure, infrastructure, and resources. Equipment and medicines.

Another key to C / Can 2025 is to improve oncological care and treatment for its citizens through a strong network that includes municipal leaders, governments, NGOs, United Nations agencies, and other organizations. local and international companies.

70 journalists are trained to report on health

More than 70 journalists from Latin America participated in the Roche Press Day, an annual educational forum on journalism in the United States. health. At the meeting, Pgina Siete presented and shared her experience on the series of investigation reports she has done on the situation of cancer in Bolivia.

This forum encourages the continuing education of journalists in health matters through presentations and workshops given by international experts.

The seventh edition of the meeting was held on July 4 and 5 in Cali and discussed the importance of multisectoral collaboration to remove barriers to access to health in the region , in addition to presenting the latest innovations in the treatment of hemophilia and hemophilia. Breast Cancer

A Guide to Improving Cancer Treatment

According to experts, cancer treatment is complex and to ensure good quality, many aspects need to be taken into account. [19659002] At the same time, researchers explain that each city is unique in its social, economic and environmental development, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for cancer treatment that suits all cities.

Based on this reality, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) is developing a guide for conducting cancer treatment policies, from diagnosis to palliative care, which take into account the specific aspects of each community, explains the Dr. Rolando Camacho, International Expert in Cancer Control and Advisor to UICC

The first step is to badyze each city's situation in order to decide what the priorities will be.

Among the top four areas that a city should evaluate for a quality cancer care are basic oncology services, management of oncology services, quality of cancer care and access to community and integrated care.

According to the UICC, implement improvements in each of the areas it is necessary to make the diagnosis of the initial situation. Then, at the next step, you must define the work processes. Then the objectives are established and later the results should be evaluated with an indicator of the overall impact of the implementation.

Fundamentals and Objectives of Plan C / Can 2025

• Axes Plan C / Can 2025 selected four main areas, based on global best practices in oncology care: 1) basic oncology services ; 2) management of oncology services; 3) the quality of cancer care and 4) community access and integrated care
• Execution To implement each zone, it is necessary to diagnose the initial situation; define the processes; set goals and evaluate results with an indicator of the overall impact of implementation.
• Work C / Can 2025 calls on the international community to work with cities of more than one million inhabitants, to improve oncolgica attention and treatment that they provide its citizens through a strong network in which they include municipal leaders, governments, NGOs, UN agencies and local and international businesses.