THE INTERNATIONAL CANCER CONGRESS IN OSLO: Within just one year, UICC and its President John Seffrin will organise a new summit to set an agenda for meeting the new challenges associated with cancer. That much was clarified when key representatives of a number of leading anti-cancer factions met over a working lunch at the international cancer congress on Monday, 1 July. The meeting was the first of its kind.
Stener Kvinnsland is pleased that Oslo was the venue when representatives of volunteer organisations, NGOs, industry and health organisations decided to join forces.
"It is most gratifying to note that we are all working together to explore ways to establish an organisational structure and form of co-operation to better equip us to meet the challenges associated with cancer in the years ahead", stated the president of the 18th UICC International Cancer Congress.
Dismal figures
Cancer is an immense and growing problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that there will be 15 million new cases of cancer annually on a world-wide basis just 20 years from now. Developing countries are now surpassing developed countries when it comes to the number of new cases of cancer. In 20 years, no less than 70 per cent of all cancer cases will occur in developing countries.
"Good health is a prerequisite for development", underlined Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the WHO, at the working lunch.
"Disease threatens both economic and socio-economic development. Given its dimensions, cancer constitutes our most serious threat against public health", she remarked.
"Putting cancer on the political agenda is a matter of urgency. Most countries must expect to have to care for more cancer patients in the years immediately ahead. We have to plan for this now! The capacity of the public health service must be expanded, and the healthcare sector has to gear up to receive more cancer patients", added Stener Kvinnsland.
"A balanced understanding of the general cancer situation and the prognoses in one's own country is also necessary to ensure prudent healthcare spending and the right priorities in relation to other health problems in one's home country", continued Kvinnsland.
Joining forces
The dismal cancer prognoses represent tremendous challenges, not least for cancer societies, research institutions and other healthcare organisations. Together, the various organisations possess huge volumes of invaluable knowledge resources. The challenge will be to pool these resources and establish a system to better equip us to meet the new challenges", concluded Stener Kvinnsland.