Partnership progress highlighted internationally

The Partnership’s work was showcased internationally last month at the Union for International Cancer Control’s (UICC) World Cancer Congress 2010 in China where more than 3,000 health system professionals from 92 countries gathered to review progress, and discuss challenges and opportunities in cancer control. The theme of this year’s conference, “preventing the preventable, treating the treatable, systems to make it happen”, highlighted the importance of working together to control cancer globally.

The World Cancer Congress provides an important forum to discuss the latest knowledge in cancer control and learn from international experts. We were proud to share the valuable work of the Partnership with this international audience and demonstrate the positive impact of our work.” – Partnership CEO Jessica Hill

During the Congress CEO Jessica Hill co-chaired a panel discussion on high-performing cancer systems, and a session on supporting system leaders in managing the impact and risk that cancer represents to populations. She also spoke about the organization’s work and highlighted how the Partnership had to mobilize quickly upon opening its doors in 2007 to develop effective partnerships with cancer experts, government representatives, charities, cancer patients, survivors and their families to build on the momentum of Canada’s cancer control strategy.

Congress attendees were interested to learn how collaborating with these and other organizations in the cancer community has helped the Partnership to identify and launch successful initiatives to advance cancer control for Canadians.

Another key contributor to this year’s UICC World Cancer Congress was Dr. Heather Bryant, the Partnership’s Vice President of Cancer Control. Dr. Bryant was an active participant on the Congress Executive Scientific Committee as Chair of Cancer Prevention. Dr Bryant also led plenary sessions, including a presentation about colorectal cancer screening, with an overview of screening test types and participation rates in Canada, and she provided a snapshot of Canada’s cancer system performance and its evolution of indicators that measure the country’s achievements and identify opportunities for improvements. Dr. Bryant also led a discussion on the debate surrounding cancer screening, the potential benefits, views and controversies. Following this session attendees were provided an opportunity to raise questions and share their experiences.

“Many countries internationally are seeking to improve early diagnosis of cancers, such as colorectal, through establishing screening programs for populations at higher risk,” said Dr. Bryant. “The UICC Congress provided an opportunity to share what we have learned in Canada about colorectal cancer screening, and build and expand on each others’ experiences with screening, which is invaluable.”

The Partnership’s Dr. Jon Kerner, Chair of the Partnership’s Primary Prevention Advisory Group, also chaired two sessions including one entitled “Research, Practice and Policy Innovations in Cancer Prevention” at this year’s Congress. During this session, presenters discussed the importance of connecting the lessons learned from science with the learnings from practice and policy. Attendees then shared strategies about how to integrate science with service to improve the quality of cancer and chronic disease control programs and policies through evidence-based approaches.

Overall, the following Partnership initiatives were showcased internationally during the conference:

• the Colorectal Cancer Screening Initiative
• the National Staging Initiative
• the System Performance Initiative
• the Cancer View Canada portal
• the Coalitions Linking Action & Science for Prevention (CLASP) Initiative
• the Healthy Public Policy Initiative, and
• the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project

For more information on the Congress visit the UICC site.